University of Kentucky receives National Science Foundation grant to provide STEM grads with scholarships and stipends

The University of Kentucky’s College of Education has received a $1.71 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help address the current and ongoing shortage of STEM educators in Kentucky. The grant will provide STEM graduates with scholarships and stipends to take their foundation in science, technology, engineering, and math and translate it into teaching, to help give others the gift of a STEM education.

According to an article on the University of Kentucky’s website, Jennifer Wilhelm, Ph.D., who is a professor in UK's Department of STEM Education and is the principal investigator of the grant project, was quoted as saying, “This five-year project aims to help address the need to prepare highly qualified STEM teachers for classrooms in the Commonwealth. The goal is that they will be equipped as effective STEM educators and active in leading colleagues in their schools, districts and professional organizations.”

The initiative involves students being selected to take part in the UK-Robert Noyce Teacher Fellowship Program. According to the webpage for the fellowship program, “The UK-Robert Noyce Teacher Fellowship Program ensures that its fellows move into their professional lives equipped for life-long learning as STEM educators who will be active in leading colleagues in their schools, districts, and professional organizations.” It provides financial assistance, through support from the National Science Foundation, to graduate students who are pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Teaching “who are seeking to become teachers in mathematics and/or science (physics, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences).”

Ten applicants to the UK-Robert Noyce Teacher Fellowship Program will be selected to receive a scholarship of $34,760 to be used for the Master of Arts in Teaching in STEM program, as well as a stipend of $15,000 per year that will supplement their teaching salary during their first four years of teaching a STEM subject in a Kentucky K-12 classroom. 

In order to be eligible to apply for the UK-Robert Noyce Teacher Fellowship Program, individuals must have a bachelor degree in math, science, engineering, computer science, or other related STEM fields, must have a GPA of at least 2.75, and must be interested in becoming a STEM teacher in 8th through 12th grade in a Kentucky school.

For more information about the University of Kentucky, visit the school’s website.