Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP)

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Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) / Archives for underrepresented students

Associate Professor of Chemistry Kelly Neiles and Team Invited to Join Inclusive Excellence Learning Community

Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Kelly Neiles, along with colleagues at SMCM, have accepted an invitation from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to participate in an Inclusive Excellence Learning Community. The award includes $30,000 to support participation in the Learning Community, which focuses on the evaluation of inclusive teaching and is meant to build capacity for inclusion of all students, especially those who have been historically excluded from science. Neiles stated that she and her team “are excited for the opportunity this will provide the College both in terms of educating ourselves on this important topic, and also in positioning ourselves to gain future support for this work”.

The following individuals helped Neiles develop the proposal to HHMI:

  • Katy Arnett, Professor of Educational Studies, Faculty Advisor for Accessibility Services, and Coordinator of Transparent Teaching & Assessment
  • Chris Burch, Senior Developer/Architect in the Office of Information Technology
  • Emily Casey, Assistant Professor of Art History
  • Tayo Clyburn, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion/Chief Diversity Officer
  • Samantha Elliott, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching & Learning and Associate Professor of Biology
  • Gili Freedman, Assistant Professor of Psychology
  • Josh Grossman, Professor of Physics
  • Argelia Gonzalez Hurtado, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies
  • Shanen Sherrer, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
  • Christine Wooley, Associate Dean of Curriculum and Associate Professor of English
  • Diego Tibaquira Professor of Computer Science at Miami Dade College

The Inclusive Excellence Learning Community will be organized in two phases. Phase 1 of the Learning Community will:

  • help members apply an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist lens to their continued self-study,
  • hold one another accountable as members develop inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approaches to address selected challenges, and
  • help inform HHMI’s development of Phase 2.

Neiles’s team will participate in a learning community cluster with approximately 14 other teams from other institutions, focusing on evaluation of inclusive teaching. Two other clusters will concentrate on content of the introductory science experience, and effective partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions.

An essential element of an inclusive stance is a commitment to dismantle institutional structural racism. HHMI also promotes moving from a scarcity mindset that emphasizes competition to an abundance mindset that embodies collaboration and community. By the end of Phase 1, HHMI’s goal is for each institution to be ready to develop an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approach to address their selected challenge and have a community to rely on as they implement their ideas and strategies. HHMI will host meetings throughout Phase 1 so that the cluster members can convene and process their learning together.

Associate Professor Gijanto and Professor Larsen Awarded Three-year NSF Grant to Fund Student Research Experiences

Drs. Gijanto (center) and Larsen (right)

Liza Gijanto, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Randy Larsen, Professor of Chemistry, were recently awarded an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant focused on archaeological investigations of colonial Maryland (Award No. 1950646). The $368,278 grant will fund a multi-year research program for numerous students from across the U.S. 

Each summer during this NSF-REU program, 12 undergraduate students and their mentors will investigate the role of country estates in shaping Maryland society from the mid-17th until the early 19th century. This archaeology REU program is novel in terms of research focus, combining traditional field and laboratory techniques with cutting-edge collection management methods (archaeometry, mapping, dating, photogrammetry). Participants will also receive instruction in ethical curation that includes interpretation in both scholarly publications and museum exhibition. The eight-week program will be hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland, with field work occurring at the Cremona Estate in Mechanicsville, MD and collections management and conservation training done in collaboration with the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) in St. Leonard, MD. The three-year project was scheduled to run in the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022. However, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Gijanto and Larsen are working with NSF to delay implementation of the project by one year.

This comprehensive and innovative REU program will provide undergraduates with a first-class research experience in archaeology and state-of-the-art training in the latest scientific and methodological approaches to archaeological fieldwork, artifact curation, materials analysis, curatorial interpretation and public engagement with scholarly content. Drs. Gijanto and Larsen also seek to highlight the ongoing archaeological collections crisis, which is largely due to the separation of archaeological fieldwork from collections management and the lack of planning and resource allocation for the proper care of materials once they have been excavated. To investigate the research question and provide solid training in archaeology, students will learn: 1) the use of archaeological, archival, and spatial data to discern the role of country estates in shaping MD society; 2) the relationship between generating a collection and maintaining it; 3) archaeometry and materials characterization; and 4) public engagement through research presentations, publications and museum exhibition. This combination of research and state-of the art training available to early career, underserved students is currently unique among U.S. field schools.

Professor and Chair of Educational Studies Angela Johnson Awarded NSF Collaborative Research Grant

Angela C Johnson was recently awarded a $103,473 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of her project titled: Centering Women of Color in STEM: Data-Driven Opportunities for Inclusion. The two-year grant began September 2019, and will fund a continuation of Johnson’s collaborative research with Apriel Hodari of Eureka Scientific, Inc. to identify and share what helps women of color thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Johnson and Hodari have worked over the past two years with SMCM undergraduate students Rose Young ’20 and Elizabeth Mulvey ’20 to conduct and analyze interviews with faculty, staff, and students at SMCM and two United Kingdom institutions. The researchers compiled these fine-scale qualitative data from the interviews along with broad-scale quantitative data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) in collaboration with Eleanor Sayre, Associate Professor of Physics at Kansas State University. They then identified major themes to provide guidance for organizations committed to creating better, more inclusive, environments for women of color in physics, math, computer sciences and other typical STEM fields. Results thus far include surprising patterns about institutions where women of color study STEM fields, and have been shared at conferences in Washington DC and London, England. Results will also be shared at the winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in January 2020.

This recent award will allow the investigators to:

  • expand their dataset to additional STEM disciplines using data from IPEDS,
  • develop a public online portal for the final database and study user analytics to improve the portal’s utility,
  • identify institutions where higher than typical numbers or percentages of women of color graduate in each discipline and work with these institutions to serve as models or case studies for others, and
  • present research findings from the database and make STEM professionals aware of the portal.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1933383. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Two SMCM Students Participate in Mathematics REU

Congratulations to the 12 students who presented their research on July 27, 2018 to conclude the SMCM Mathematics REU, a 7-week NSF-funded research experience for underrepresented students in mathematics who are early in their college careers. Over 100 students from across the country applied for the 12 positions. Two of the participants, Mariel Santos ’20 and Beth Thomas ’21, are undergraduates at SMCM. Santos’ team presented “Knots & Links: Local Moves & Polynomial Invariants.” Thomas’ team presented “Combating Tuberculosis: Using Time-Dependent Sensitivity Analysis to Develop Strategies for Treatment and Prevention.”

Mariel Santos (left) and Beth Thomas (right), just after presenting their REU research at SMCM

The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program.

Angela Johnson awarded grant to study women of color in STEM

Angela C Johnson, professor and department chair of Educational Studies, is interested in the challenges that women of color face in physics, math, computer science, and other similar fields. In preliminary research, Dr. Johnson has found that St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) may be on the right track in supporting these historically underrepresented students.

Johnson recently finalized a subaward agreement to serve as co-principal investigator on an NSF-funded project titled: Centering Women of Color in STEM: Identifying and Scaling Up What Helps Women of Color Thrive. Dr. Johnson is partnering with Dr. Apriel K Hodari of Eureka Scientific, Inc. on the project which will use data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to compare the inclusivity and success of women of color across college campuses.

Johnson will co-lead the overall project, manage the quantitative data collection, and contribute to data collection, coding, and analysis, and report production. Two SMCM students, Rose Young and Elizabeth Mulvey, will assist with data collection, including conducting interviews with women of color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Ultimately, the researchers hope to provide information to help guide organizations committed to creating supportive environments for women of color to thrive in STEM fields. The two-year project is scheduled to run through the summer of 2019.

The St. Mary’s College of Maryland Emerging Scholars Program – Research Experience for Undergraduates

St. Mary’s College of Maryland Professor of Mathematics Sandy Ganzell and Associate Professor of Mathematics Casey Douglas were awarded an important grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant supports a research program for undergraduate students, held at St. Mary’s College in 2016, 2018 and 2020. The seven-week program is funded by NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The first cohort of students completed the program on July 29th.

The words Math R. E. U. are spelled out with sparklers at night

Students in the Emerging Scholars Program spell out “Math REU” with sparklers at night

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