Janice Nerger - US grants

Scholarships are being awarded to outstanding junior and senior STEM majors in the College of Natural Science and the College of Engineering who desire to earn secondary school teaching certification in their discipline. The institution has a state-wide partnership with high needs schools via the Alliance School Program that provides an immediate connection to place successful graduates where they are most needed. There is an emphasis on recruiting students who are interested in teaching in rural schools. Scholars receive annual scholarships of $10,000 with a $2,000 supplement during the senior year to cover the added housing and/or travel expenses for those placed in a rural school for their field experiences.

The university currently has a summer camp program for high school students. Internships to teach in the Summer Camps are available for freshmen and sophomore STEM undergraduates with an interest in teaching under the mentorship of experienced in-service STEM classroom teachers. Student teaching interns are being recruited as potential scholarship recipients. A cohort structure for novice teachers with certification in STEM disciplines is being provided for those who teach in high needs schools. This structure includes induction mentoring by master teachers, professional development activities and networking.

Thirty-five to thirty-eight individuals are being awarded scholarships and forty freshmen and sophomores are participating as interns during the summer camps.

Processing of Chromatic Information in the Peripheral Retina

There are two types of light detectors in the human retina, rods and cones. Cones perform best in daylight conditions, whereas rods are specialized for night vision. In the daylight, humans are able to perceive color. This is because there are three different types of cones, each picking up on different spectrums of color (blue, green, and red). At night, human color perception is relatively impaired.

This study focuses on how the cones and rods operate under less than ideal conditions; conditions where both rods and cones are detecting light at the same time but neither detector is operating at its best. Such lighting conditions would be comparable to those experienced at dawn or dusk. The reason for this study is that for many years it has been assumed that rods do not contribute to our ability to perceive color, even under conditions where both rods and cones are detecting the presence of light. It is now known that rods alter color perception, so the color of an object seen under daylight conditions may not be the same as the color seen at dawn or dusk. When color is used to convey information, but lighting conditions under which the color is viewed are changing, the information provided by color may not be accurate. The goal of this study is determine under what conditions failures in color perception arise and how the visual system may compensate for these failures. The results from this project may be applied to the design of color monitors, the efficacy of color information dissemination, and the design of cockpit and/or video displays.

There is an established need for well-qualified teachers in high-need school districts, which are often located in rural or urban communities, and those with significant populations of English language learners. Over the five-year duration of the project, the Colorado State University (CSU) Noyce Phase 2 Scholarship Program will prepare 24 new secondary science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) teachers educated in social justice. Each Noyce Scholarship recipient will be working toward or will have earned a bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline, and will be enrolled in the CSU secondary teacher education program. Four CSU STEM colleges will work in partnership with local school districts, CSU Extension, and the 21 Colorado Boards of Cooperative Educational Services. The project will address three research questions to better understand the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs: (1) What is the longitudinal impact on recipients' teaching self-efficacy, perceptions of STEM and STEM teaching, teaching ability, and self-efficacy as a teacher mentor? (2) What impacts do the Phase 1 and Phase 2 models have on secondary student perceptions of STEM and their STEM learning as well as recipients' perceptions of their students' learning? (3) What impacts does the Phase 2 model have on teacher mentor perceptions of STEM and STEM teaching, mentoring self-efficacy, and teaching ability?

The project will work toward three overarching objectives. (1) Recruitment: The project will recruit first and second year STEM undergraduates to work at an existing summer STEM camp for under-served students and provide them with mentorship from experienced in-service STEM classroom teachers. Undergraduates enrolled in a first year mathematics seminar led by a mathematics education expert will be engaged in outreach programs for under-served students and will be encouraged to apply for a Noyce Scholarship.(2) Support: Scholarships of $10,000 will be awarded to outstanding juniors and seniors committed to teaching in high need schools. The project will leverage a strong statewide partnership with high-need schools through the CSU Alliance School Program to place successful graduates where they are needed most. (3) Community building: The project will foster a cohesive community of practitioners among the Noyce Scholars, a Cadre of Mentor STEM teachers, and teacher educators at CSU. Support for Noyce graduates and mentor teachers will include induction mentoring and professional development on inquiry-based and design-based STEM instruction and social justice in STEM. Through these objectives and the research agenda, the project will develop, improve, and maintain a pipeline to recruit and prepare STEM teachers for underserved schools.