NC State College of Education Awarded Over $5 Million in Research Funding From April-June, 2021

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, were awarded $5,296,858 to support 18 projects from April 1 to June 30, 2021. 

As of June 30, the college has spent $18,064,449.27 on research expenditures during the 2020-21 academic year so far. 

Advancing Equitable Outcomes Through Leadership

This $1,803,200 project funded by Ascendium will launch a three-year institutional capacity building project in which the Belk Center will focus on developing and supporting leaders within the North Carolina Community College System, empowering them to be change agents in their institutions with the goal of removing systemic barriers and closing gaps in completion rates among students from low-income backgrounds and rural communities. W. Dallas Herring Professor of Community College Education and Belk Center Executive Director Audrey Jaeger, Ph.D., is the project’s principal investigator while Kim Sepich, Ed.D., a program manager at the Belk Center, is a co-principal investigator. 

Developing and Refining a Parent Training to Improve Outcomes for African American Children with Autism

This $699,244 project funded by an early career grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s IES Research Training Programs in Special Education aims to strengthen advocacy and increase service access and utilization among Black families of children with autism. Assistant Professor Jamie Pearson, Ph.D., is the project’s principal investigator. 

Supporting Implementation of Modeling Instruction in Rural Schools (SIMIRS)

The College of Education will receive $667,275 of $2,998,588 from the National Science Foundation for this project that will provide teachers with 114 hours of formal professional development over the summer and sustained support throughout the academic year to increase their discipline-specific knowledge and skills in engaging students in using models to further their scientific thinking and knowledge. Professor Soonhye Park, Ph.D., serves as a co-principal investigator on the project while Assistant Teaching Professor Matt Reynolds, Ph.D., serves as senior personnel. The project is led by Scott Ragan, Ph.D., assistant director of the NC State College of Sciences’ Science House.

Digital Learning Media Inventory Revision

This $455,500 project funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will facilitate the update of the Digital Learning and Media Inventory, which is used to inform decision makers, locally manage resources and research various topics related to digital teaching and learning. Ray Zeisz, senior director of the Friday Institute’s Technology Infrastructure Lab, is the project’s principal investigator. 

Scale VR: Virtual Reality to Improve Students’ Understanding of the Extremes of Scale in STEM

The College of Education will receive $426,639 of $1.3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation for this project that aims to use virtual reality technology to enable students to see scientific entities in relation to their own bodies and conduct realistic size comparisons in “Scale Worlds,” an immersive virtual environment. Associate Professor Cesar Delgado, Ph.D., is a co-principal investigator on the project.  Karen Chen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the NC State College of Engineering, is the project’s principal investigator.

School Business System Modernization

This $299,722 project funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will allow the Friday Institute to provide leadership in planning, design and implementation of the emerging student information system (SIS) modernization program, developing and implementing a plan for further stabilization of the existing SIS environment. Ray Zeisz, senior director of the Friday Institute’s Technology Infrastructure Lab, is the project’s principal investigator. 

IGE: Learning the Entire Pipeline: Analyzing and Improving Graduate Engineering Education through Communities of Practice

The College of Education will receive $194,179 of $332,184 in funding from the National Science Foundation for this project that aims to improve graduate engineering education by studying students’ interactions and learning within and across collaborative groups, when integrating into professional engineering endeavors and when engaged in interdisciplinary projects to identify promising approaches and obstacles to generate theory for effective workforce preparation. Associate Professor Cesar Delgado, Ph.D., is a co-principal investigator on the project. Kevin Han, Ph.D., an assistant professor in NC State’s Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering is the project’s principal investigator. 

TEACH Science Fellowship: A Professional Development Program to Enhance Teaching of Environmental And Computational Health Sciences

This $164,563 project funded by the National Institute of Health Science Education Partnership Award aims to build the capacity of secondary science teachers to incorporate timely environmental health issues and research-generated data into their teaching. Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., director of the Friday Institute Research and Evaluation Team, is the project’s principal investigator.

Code.org Regional Partner K-12 Program

This $156,523 project funded by Code.org will enable the Friday Institute to provide professional learning programs for in-service teachers to prepare them to teach introductory computer science courses in middle and high school and to integrate computer science concepts into K-5 classes. Samuel Morris, program manager at the Friday Institute, is the project’s principal investigator. 

Broadband Data Collection & Analysis and Technology Strategy

This $97,750 project funded by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology will allow the Friday Institute to provide technical assistance to help the Broadband Infrastructure Office in developing and supporting next-generation speed test applications that can be integrated with a survey. Ray Zeisz, senior director of the Friday Institute’s Technology Infrastructure Lab, is the project’s principal investigator. 

Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE): Expanding the Reach and Impact of Innovations in STEM Education

This $85,434 project funded by the National Science Foundation will allow NC State to provide thought leadership, strategic planning and specific support to the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education’s capacity building efforts and provide technical assistance for current CADRE awardees. Professor Eric Wiebe, Ph.D., is the project’s principal investigator.  

Blended Learning Supports

This $75,000 project funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will develop and publish an online facilitation guide based on the seven principles of effective blended instruction. An online course will build student engagement and participation in blended learning and traditional instruction to provide seamless transitions between instructional modes. Patricia Hilliard, Ph.D., a research scholar at the Friday Institute, is the project’s principal investigator while Jaclyn Bell Stevens, a research scholar at the Friday Institute, will serve as a co-principal investigator.

N.C. K-12 CS Dashboard

This $75,000 project funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction aims to update student demographics, create a dashboard for trends in computer science student enrollment, showing growth across districts, and create an additional dashboard to show teacher capacity. Samuel Morris, program manager at the Friday Institute, is the principal investigator on the project while Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., director of the Friday Institute Research and Evaluation Team, is the co-principal investigator.

Accelerating Attainment: Identifying High-Leverage Strategies in Support of North Carolina’s 2030 Attainment Goal

This $27,533 project funded by the John M. Belk Endowment proposes a series of studies designed to answer questions and identify high-leverage, evidence-based programs vital to North Carolina’s efforts to improve college enrollment, completion rates and labor market outcomes. Assistant Professor Lam Pham, Ph.D., is the project’s principal investigator.

Co-development of Reading Ability and Science Content Knowledge for Elementary-Grade English Learners: The Role of Language Instruction Educational Program (LIEP)

This $25,000 project funded by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and National Science Foundation proposes a transactional model of reading-knowledge development — a theoretical model that will explore the reciprocal mechanisms of reading ability and science content development over time — and will explore whether an English language learner’s attendance in a language instruction educational program affects the co-development of the two constructs. Assistant Professor Jackie Relyea, Ph.D., is the project’s principal investigator.

NC STEM Strategic Plan-Public Dissemination

This $24,990 project funded by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund will facilitate the editing of the N.C. STEM Education Strategic Plan for 2030 into versions targeted for public audiences, including policymakers, educators and the general public. Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., director of the Friday Institute Research and Evaluation Team, is the project’s principal investigator. Malinda Faber, a research associate at the Friday Institute, is the co-principal investigator. 

Collaborative Research: CLASS 2.0: Applying a Digital Tool to Support Self-regulated Learning Strategies in Introductory Geoscience Courses

The College of Education will receive $17,306 of $480,225 in funding from the National Science Foundation for this project, which aims to modify and expand the Confidence-Based Learning Accuracy Support System (CLASS), a prototype online tool that provides an online quizzing environment that measures student learning and confidence in that learning, displaying results that can guide students to adopt more effective learning behaviors that improve course performance. Professor John Nietfeld, Ph.D., is a co-principal investigator on the project. David McConnell, Ph.D., an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in the College of Sciences, is the project’s principal investigator.

Amplifying the Voices of Underserved Students in Community Based Organizations

This $2,000 project funded by the National Council of Teachers of English aims to investigate the Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) and advance the project goals of improving student literacy, promoting students’ social/emotional development and enhancing student advocacy and leadership skills. Assistant Professor Crystal Chen Lee, Ed.D., is the project’s principal investigator while Jose Picart, Ph.D., deputy director of the Friday Institute, is the co-principal investigator.