| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 2, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 2, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1712028 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Corby Hovis
chovis@nsf.gov (703)292-4625 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $206,897.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $206,897.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
319 S MARKET ST NEW WILMINGTON PA US 16172-0001 (724)946-8761 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
319 South Market Street New Wilmington PA US 16172-0002 |
| Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
Employers express concerns that STEM graduates, while proficient in their disciplines, lack the critical skills necessary for success in the workplace. In addition, many non-STEM majors do not develop the basic scientific literacy that could help them succeed in the workplace. To address these needs, the investigators will design and test an interdisciplinary, project-based experience, the Environmental Project Management Academy (EPMA), in which sophomore and junior undergraduates pursuing either STEM or business majors will work together on a semester-long service learning project. The program will combine an existing 100-level environmental science course (Principles of Environmental Science) with a new 200-level project management course (Principles and Practices of Project Management) designed and taught by faculty in the School of Business. Through the EPMA, students will collaborate with community stakeholders as they integrate knowledge of environmental science and project management in a project involving environmental issues relevant to the region, such as solar energy, resource commercialization, and rain gardens. The EPMA will help develop business-competent, STEM-literate graduates with an understanding of significant environmental challenges as well as the interdisciplinary thinking and project management skills required to address them.
The EPMA program will weave the known benefits of service learning and project-based learning into interdisciplinary STEM and business education. The objectives are (1) to engage 20 undergraduate students per cohort (60 over the entire project period), with STEM and business majors equally represented, in a "cluster course" that focuses on a service learning project addressing a community need; (2) to establish an effective interdisciplinary STEM teaching and learning environment in which 85% of each cohort demonstrates competence in scientific literacy, project management skills, interdisciplinary thinking, and intangible skills such as teamwork and leadership; and (3) to determine whether this innovative educational model can be scaled and sustained long-term, financially and logistically. Program design and evaluation will be completed in collaboration with a professional evaluator and an advisory board, including experts practicing science in a business setting. Broadly applicable results from this project should include (1) a model for interdisciplinary project-based learning in which STEM and non-STEM majors collaborate on a STEM-based project and (2) a model for the incorporation of project management techniques into STEM coursework.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Employers express concerns that STEM graduates, while proficient in their disciplines, lack the critical skills necessary for success in the workplace. In addition, many non-STEM majors do not develop the basic scientific literacy that could help them succeed in the workplace. To address these needs, the investigators developed an interdisciplinary, project-based experience, the Environmental Project Management Academy (EPMA) that targeted sophomore and junior undergraduates pursuing either STEM or business majors. The EPMA program was delivered as a “cluster course” combining a 100-level environmental science course (Principles of Environmental Science) with a 200-level project management course (Principles and Practices of Project Management) and included a 90-minute weekly leadership seminar embedded into the course meetings time during which students developed intangible skills that were applicable to the team-based project work. Through the EPMA program, project work was planned and executed by small, cross-disciplinary student teams, in which each student had the opportunity to develop leadership and communication skills by rotating through the role of team leader. Students collaborated with community stakeholders on a semester-long service learning project as they integrated knowledge of environmental science, project management, and soft skills with project work on environmental issues relevant to the region.
Through the four years of the grant period, a total of 79 undergraduate students (STEM or business majors) participated in the EPMA program and demonstrated competency in environmental science, project management, soft skills, and interdisciplinary thinking. Four different non-profit organizations in our region benefited from deliverables associated with the student semester-long project work. Projects included investigatory research on solar energy, abandoned mine drainage, industrial hemp, and Pennsylvania natural products entrepreneurial ventures.
Broadly applicable results from the EPMA program include an instructional model for interdisciplinary project-based learning in which STEM and non-STEM majors collaborate on a STEM-based project. The EPMA program also serves as a model for the incorporation of project management and/or leadership into STEM coursework. Outcomes from the EPMA program have demonstrated that the semester-long project teams provided critical peer support that resulted in student resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regarding the main goal of the EPMA program, to prepare all participating undergraduates to be successful STEM workforce contributors and/or STEM-literate business leaders, survey results indicated that the program has achieved this goal. More than 80% of respondents described how the EPMA course had helped them to obtain internships, job interviews, and positions. It is important to note that these findings are merely short-term results and do not fully encompass the long-term positive implications of having participated in the EPMA program. If the survey results are any indication of future success, we envision our EPMA program participants as the next great leaders of tomorrow.
Last Modified: 12/29/2021
Modified by: Helen Boylan
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