Funding for Engagement

2008 Excellence in Engagement Grants

Total Funding for 2008: $208,000

1. Science at the Polar Frontier: BPRC, the Zoo, and Metro School ($71,000)

Carol Landis, Education and Outreach Specialist, Byrd Polar Research Center; Nancy Hampson, Director of Conservation Education, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; Marcy Raymond, Principal, Metro High School

This project will develop interactive public displays for the Columbus Zoo’s Polar Frontier exhibit. These displays, which provide an in-depth contextual view of the effects of climate change on Arctic regions, will be shared electronically with partner institutions in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. High school students from the Zoo School an the Metro School will develop demonstrations and activities to be presented at public events. A Byrd Polar Research Center scientist will serve as the model for a virtual scientist in the displays. The objectives are to increase public awareness and understanding of present and past climate changes in the Arctic, to enhance students’ investigative and representational skills, and to develop a sustained relationship among the partners.

2. Mansfield Young People’s Project ($68,000)

Lee McEwan, Associate Professor, Mathematics, OSU Mansfield; Heather Tanner, Associate Professor, History, OSU Mansfield; Partners: Young People’s Project, Algebra Project

The Mansfield Young People's Project (MYPP) supports the Ohio state legislature’s STEM education enhancement goals through a unique partnership among the Ohio State University at Mansfield, Mansfield City Schools, and the Algebra Project (AP), a national nonprofit organization increasing math literacy of minority and economically challenged students. MYPP will recruit, train, and deploy high school and college Math Literacy Workers (MLWs), building upon 12 years of after school youth tutoring expertise developed by the Young People's Project (YPP), an AP outgrowth. Students meeting program criteria will be recruited in annual cohorts and trained as a team to enhance their identity as learners and knowledge workers. This project will serve as a bridge to the establishment of the Mansfield Algebra Project, a permanent math intervention program working with cohorts of eligible students for all four years of high school.

3. Ohio House of Science and Engineering (OHSE) ($35,000)

Susan Olesik, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; David Tomasko, Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, College of Engineering; Amanda Simcox, Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, College of Biological Sciences; Linda Weavers, John C. Geupel Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science and Associate Professor, College of Engineering

Ohio State University has numerous well-established science/engineering outreach and public science literacy programs that seek to improve grades K-20 science education (Wonders of Our World, W.O.W., GK-12 Program, Future Engineers Summer Camp, and the DNA Fingerprinting Workshop). Operating as a consortium of these highly effective programs, the Ohio House of Science and Engineering will foster and promote STEM outreach and education activities from kindergarten through the PhD. It intends to serve all of the following roles in the university community: a primary point of contact for external constituencies to find STEM outreach programs at the university; a stable administrative structure for programs and physical base for operations; a laboratory or think tank for testing and developing new outreach ideas; and a curriculum development resource for STEM elements in higher education. The proposed Excellence and Engagement project will expand the efforts of a number of current outreach efforts to include inquiry-based teaching in K-12 classrooms. This will be the pilot for demonstrating the OHSE operation. At full strength, the OHSE expects to serve approximately 10,000 K-12 students per year with 1,000-1,500 contributing scientists and engineers.

4. Engineering to the High Schools ($15,000)

Betty Lise Anderson, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering; Partners: Marcy Raymond, Principal, Metro High School; David B. L. Gould, Director, Upper School, Columbus School for Girls; Susie Carr, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Whitehall City Schools; Chris Brandon, Project Director, Battelle Engineering Experience; Glenda LaRue, Director, Women in Engineering Program, College of Engineering

The United States is facing a shortage of engineers. To address this shortage, the key is to educate school teachers, and through them their students, about what engineering is. The teachers are eager to learn, and the schools are creating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) clubs and engineering clubs to reach the students, but the teachers and clubs need content. This project will tap the creativity of electrical and computer engineering students at OSU in creating projects and designing activities, including the equipment, to teach teachers about various aspects of technology, showing how principles taught in physics, chemistry, and math can be applied to create technology that benefits mankind. Project staff will develop hands-on activities and take them to high schools to teach the teachers. Ohio Statewill supply materials, documentation (written and possibly video/podcast), as well as in-class support to facilitate teachers’ transferring of those projects to the classroom and STEM clubs.

5. Stable Cradle ($17,000)

Wanda Dillard, Director of Community Development, Ohio State University Medical Center; Mary Margaret Gottesman, Associate Professor, College of Nursing; Partners: Maryhaven Women’s Program; Material Assistance Providers; Andrew Russ, Attorney, Wolfe & Russ LLC

This project will expand and strengthen the existing Stable Cradle Program, a partnership of the OSU Medical Center and Maryhaven Substance Abuse Services. The goals are to increase the number of pregnant drug abusing women served by the program, strengthen program quality by adding additional education and service components for prenatal and postpartum periods, and evaluating the program’s outcomes and impact. The medical center will be involved in hiring and training a nurse practitioner and additional lay peer mentor for the program. College of Nursing will conduct the evaluation and involve students in increasing attendance in pre and postnatal classes. Material Assistance Providers will offer a furniture bank and Wolfe & Russ LLC will provide legal support for program participants.

Grant Recipients

2007 Excellence in Engagement Grants
2006 Excellence in Engagement Grants
2005 Excellence in Engagement Grants
2004 Excellence in Engagement Grants
2005 Outreach & Engagement Seed Grants
2002 Outreach & Engagement Seed Grants
2001 Outreach & Engagement Seed Grants
2000 Outreach & Engagement Seed Grants
1999 Outreach & Engagement Seed Grants
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