UA receives $3 million NSF grant for science education

University of Arizona's BIO5 Institute has been awarded a five year, $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to train graduate students to act as science mentors in Tucson's K-12 classrooms.

The program, called Biology from Molecules to Ecosystems (BioME), will pair graduate students in life sciences with local K-12 teachers to focus on curriculum development and teaching collaborations.

The grant will provide stipends for up to 10 graduate students per year and provide additional funding for teachers involved in the program.

Graduate students will undergo summer training and will work one-on-one with teachers in the classroom for a year.

To be eligible for the program, graduate students must have completed two years of research toward an advanced life-sciences degree.

The award is the largest outreach grant the BIO5 Institute has received to date, Director Vicki Chandler told Arizona Daily Star.

"This is so important," said Chandler. "We hope to get more students in the math-engineering-science pipeline in the U.S."

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For more information:

"UA science grad students in new role," Arizona Daily Star, 02/02/2007