06/17/2009
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant of nearly $900,000 to SUNY Cortland to assist up to 50 students interested in becoming math and science teachers.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The NSF has funded the scholarship through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Starting this fall, SUNY Cortland will award between eight and 14 scholarships each year for five years, said the grant’s principal investigator, Gregory D. Phelan, associate professor and chair of the Chemistry Department. Phelan also administered a Noyce Scholarship Program at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Wash., where he served as an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Undergraduates will receive $12,500 and graduate students will receive $15,000.
“The scholarship amount will help pay for room, board and tuition for undergraduates with some additional money for books and living expenses,” explained Phelan. “This money will allow the campus to help support people who want to be STEM educators by providing them with financial relief.”
For each year a student receives the scholarship, the individual is expected to teach for two years in a program-approved school district in New York state or elsewhere in the U.S.
“This grant will help the College recruit those in the STEM areas who might have otherwise not considered becoming a teacher,” said Phelan. “It will benefit local students in the classroom by providing them with highly-skilled, supported teachers who are part of this nationwide group of math and science educators.”
Faculty who helped prepare the grant application include: Anne Burns-Thomas, assistant professor of foundations and social advocacy; Mary Gfeller, assistant professor of mathematics; Rena Janke, associate professor of biological sciences; Larry Klotz, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biological Sciences; Chris Cirmo, professor and chair of the Geology Department; Brice Smith, assistant professor and chair of the Physics Department; and Claus Schubert, assistant professor of mathematics.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is named after the late Robert Noyce, who was nicknamed ‘the Mayor of Silicon Valley.’ He co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968. Noyce is credited as the co-inventor of the integrated circuit or microchip.
For more information about the Noyce Scholarships, contact Phelan at (607) 753-2905 or [email protected] or visit the Web site at www.cortland.edu/noyce.