Congratulations to Professor Elizabeth Weiser, as well as Jefferson Roberts, William MacDonald, Karen Goodell, Melissa Buelow from The Ohio State University at Newark on receiving the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Grant for $1.4 million. This grant will fund their project “Enhancing a Transfer Pathway to Improve STEM Student Success.”

This grant incorporates the entire science faculty in addition to Weiser in the English department. Ohio State Newark welcomes students from “77 of Ohio’s 88 campuses, and 1/3 of them are first-generation college students, 1/3 are students of color, and 1/3 at least are eligible for federal Pell grants,” Weiser explains. The NSF grants supports 45 students from underrepresented communities–15 students per year for three years–in STEM fields. 

Weiser will coach students to effectively communicate the material they learn in their STEM classes via writing courses. “I want to introduce them to the importance of science communication—being able to describe to the general community what a discovery or innovation is and why it is important,” Weiser says. 

Weiser is aiming for a holistic writing and STEM education for her students, “The goal here is two-fold: One is to have them practice science writing, and the other is to help them articulate to themselves the bigger picture of the small project they’ve personally been working on.” Weiser emphasizes the importance of understanding not only what kind of research her students are doing, but why it’s important and how to communicate its significance. 

As students participate in their summer internships, Weiser will be working with them to create two short writing pieces the group will put together for a blog to share them. Writing their blog pieces, students will have the opportunity to practice communicating their research and its significance. “A freshman or sophomore is not going to learn to be a science communicator in a few hours of work over three weeks. But in that time I’ll want to introduce them to why science communication is important,” Weiser says. 

Weiser hopes her students employ what they learn in her writing courses in future careers and writing. To learn more about the project, visit the Ohio State Newark website  https://newark.osu.edu/news/ohio-state-newark-awarded-$14-million-nsf-grant.html. 

Congratulations to Elizabeth Weiser and her team!