Saint Mary’s College receives National Science Foundation Planning Grant

Saint Mary’s College has received a $100,000 Planning Grant from the National Science Foundation that will assist the college in preparing for future success with long-term grant opportunities. The funding will allow the college to build up its infrastructure, create teams, and generate partnerships with other institutions and organizations that will develop an environment focused on success.

According to an article on Saint Mary’s College, faculty member Bettina Spencer, who is on the team for this grant project, was quoted as saying of what the funding will help the college accomplish, “This grant will provide intentional time and energy into identifying the best practices for increasing students' access to the research experience. By creating a research-focused consortium of women's colleges, we can share resources and make sure that all of our students are able to successfully navigate the research process early in their college career. The consortium will benefit all of its partners by providing shared resources. If one campus has a particular strength they can share it, or they can show the other campus how to build that resource. Similarly, if a campus needs support in a particular area, they can reach out to consortium members for guidance. Ideally we will create a tri-campus women's college system of sharing research-based knowledge and resources.”

The consortium is made up of fellow Catholic women’s colleges around the country, including Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

As part of the grant project, over the next year, Claire Brown, Bettina Spencer, Patti Doyle, Colleen Hoover, and Anne Marie Short will work alongside the Brockport Research Institute to gather data, which will help the college assess the best ways to set up long-term grant success.

Speaking of the Brockport Research Institute’s role, Hoover said, “They're going to develop a survey for all Saint Mary's students, a survey for faculty and academic staff, and conduct a focus group with alumnae in research careers. Both the fact that the surveys support a group of women's colleges and that Saint Mary's is seeking input from our alumnae in determining our research needs are exciting features of this project."

Spencer added, “We can identify our own campuses strengths and weaknesses and work to bolster and build services that support independent and collaborative student research. With the consortium in place we can potentially do summer research exchanges if we have faculty and students who want to collaborate across the campuses. We also hope to identify creative ways on and off campus to increase access to research opportunities for a wider range of students.”

Spencer and Brown will conduct site visits to Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and Bryn Mawr College and Swarthmore College, both near Philadelphia, all of which have strong infrastructure in place that the grant project team from Saint Mary’s College would like to observe. 

“Saint Mary's has an excellent track record of producing undergraduate research. This grant will provide intentional time and energy into identifying the best practices for increasing students' access to the research experience.vBy creating a research-focused consortium of women's colleges, we can share resources and make sure that all of our students are able to successfully navigate the research process early in their college career,” said Spencer.

For more information about Saint Mary’s College, visit the school’s website.