This project is a one-day NSF workshop hosted by South Arkansas University Tech (SAU Tech) for community college faculty in south Arkansas in an attempt to increase the number of NSF projects in the southern part of the state as well as increase the STEM knowledge in the area?s population.
The workshop aims to increase the ability of community college faculty in the southern part of Arkansas to prepare NSF proposals and to act as a PI on awarded proposals. This has the potential to bolster the STEM knowledge in the employment base in Arkansas, something that Arkansas desperately needs to stay competitive in the world economy.
The eventual goal of this project to increase STEM knowledge in south Arkansas will have far reaching impacts with not only the local economy but the state as well. The college is located in Highland Industrial Park, the largest privately owned industrial park in the southern part of the nation. The college has the ability to forge partnerships with industries in developing new programs that will enhance the industries production through NSF funded projects. The relationship between multi-national corporations in the park and SAU Tech has the potential to influence the development of relationships with other corporations with other community colleges all across the state. Equipping faculty with knowledge of NSF and the role they can play in developing and conducting projects is essential to this project.
Project included the collaboration of it's two-year technical campus, SAU Tech. The PI for the project arranged for a former NSF officer to provide a grant writing workshop tailored specifically to two-year college faculty. Faculty from several two-year colleges and from a few four-year colleges attended the event. A total of 31 attendees participated in the day long workshop. The PI also attended a national conference in Washington DC hosted by the Council for Resource Development; an organization specifically for two-year colleges which provides training in fund raising and grant writing. The last activity of the project was to create an online non-credit grant writing course and a companion website, all in an effort to provide two-year college faculty with much needed resources. The website for the course is located at www.sautgrantwritingresources.wordpress.com. The course will be delivered by SAU Tech this fall using Blackboard. The project, while small in nature, provide a platform to open discussions with faculty members at two-year colleges with regards to grant activities and especially NSF grant activities. As a result of the grant, further activities were developed, including another grant writing training session for SAU Tech's faculty over a four week period. Plans are underway for SAU Tech faculty to apply for an ATE grant in the fall of 2011 as a direct result of this project. Conclusion: The findings of the project clearly noted a lack of understanding of the National Science Foundation and its programs by two-year college faculty in south Arkansas. After attending the project workshop, the faculty in attendance, expressed a more clear understanding of the role that the NSF expects faculty to take in grant projects and the various programs that the NSF provides. Intellectual Merit: The project increased the ability of SAU Tech's faculty and other two-year college faculty in south Arkansas, to create projects and apply for funding for the projects through the NSF. As an EBSCoR state, Arkansas has a added commitment to increasing the role of the NSF as well as STEM activities in the state. Broader Impacts: The project provided an avenue to engage two-year college faculty in an effort to increase STEM knowledge through participating in NSF grant activities. This effort has the potential to affect many students in the years to come.
