Overall progress toward a fully integrated alliance model will be assessed through the Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at the North Carolina State University. The evaluation will employ a mixed-methods embedded design (Creswell & Clark, 2010; Yauch & Steudel, 2003). This design���s intent is to use qualitative data to elaborate and enhance quantitative findings to provide a more complete understanding of findings (Greene et al., 1989; Tang & Solomon, 2001). Aligned with project activities and expected outcomes, the project evaluation will answer five questions. Table 1 and 2 below specify the questions, data sources, methods, and year of analysis for each evaluation question. The process evaluation will explore the creation and implementation of the alliance. It will also provide formative feedback on and documentation of the project team process. This will help ensure project activities are completed and goals are achieved.

The project evaluation plan provides for a comprehensive formative (process) and summative (outcome) evaluation. To ensure an independent evaluation and develop institutional capacity for evaluation, the Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) group at the North Carolina State University Friday Institute for Educational Innovation will serve as the external evaluator with Dr. Callie Womble Edwards, Acting Director of the PEER group, serving as team lead; Mr. Aaron Arenas M.S.Ed. focused on qualitative analysis; and Mr. James Birket focused on quantitative analysis.

This project is a public/private partnership between the Renewable Energy industry, community colleges, baccalaureate renewable energy training and DEIA initiatives with HBCUs in the College of Natural Resources (CNR) and continuing-education, renewable energy training and extension services through the College of Engineering (COE) NC Clean Energy Technology Center (CETC) to build a sustainable career pathway system to mid-tier and upper-tier renewable energy jobs in Southeastern North Carolina.

Polymers have emerged as highly versatile materials that can be engineered for superior functional performance as adhesives, sealants, and coatings in emerging technologies such as microelectronics, biosensors and novel composites. There are, however, significant gaps in our understanding of bond mechanisms at polymer adhesive interfaces. Such interfaces are often non-smooth due to processing techniques such as 3D printing, damage, or intended design topography. Surfaces with texture have long been thought to improve adhesion with soft polymers by increasing surface energy and delaying interface-driven failure mechanisms such as delamination. Recent studies, however, have shown that surface roughness leads to adhesion hysteresis wherein parts of the surface come in and out of contact. These oscillations present major challenges in estimating the effective contact area, and, correspondingly, other surface properties such as equivalent coefficient of friction or wettability. The presence of non-smoothness alters the pressure distribution on the interface and contributes to stress concentrations and damage mechanisms such as wear and delamination. Scale and cost barriers have limited experimental studies on adhesion and friction of polymer interfaces. Recent advances in analytical modeling have illuminated similarities between adhesion and fracture mechanics theories, but the path towards robust numerical modeling of non-smooth polymer adhesive interfaces remains largely unexplored. This BRITE Relaunch proposal seeks to investigate fundamental research questions in the modeling of adhesive polymer interfaces. Our hypothesis is that a multiscale interface formulation of friction and adhesion for non-smooth interfaces will improve our ability to design functional polymer adhesives if it can: (i) produce accurate estimates of stress concentration at non-smooth contact locations, (ii) capture adhesion hysteresis without loss of stability in the numerical analysis, (iii) incorporate multi-scale surface topologies with explicit representation of interface fields and (iv) leverage emerging methodologies such as continuum dislocation mechanics to capture delamination on surfaces with random topologies. The PI, with her vast experience (academic and industrial) in computational contact modeling and fracture mechanics, is well-positioned to accomplish these goals. Funding through BRITE Relaunch will provide her with necessary resources to re-integrate into the academic research community after a multi-year research stint in industry, provide necessary graduate student support/training, and launch educational and outreach endeavors to promote underrepresented groups. Intellectual Merit: This project will uncover and advance science at the intersection of contact mechanics, fracture and damage modeling, and the design of novel polymer adhesives. The methods proposed herein will evolve computational methods for adhesion and friction and facilitate new research initiatives in interface mechanics. Coupling dislocation dynamics with adhesion and friction modeling will significantly improve our ability to accurately and efficiently simulate complex interfacial bond and damage mechanisms, and will open the door for adapting the methodology to other fields such biomechanics and geo-mechanics. Broader impact: This research has the potential to create a new computational design paradigm for adhesives and enable major advances in energy generation, robotics, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering. This work will also pave the way for the development of a comprehensive framework for the functional design of interfaces and provide new insights into the behavior of smart materials. Educational and community outreach programs are designed to cultivate the professional development of STEM students, increase the participation of STEM students at all levels, and foster collaboration with local high schools to reach a broader population.

The National Juntos Consortium (NJC) and STEM AP is a transformational, interdisciplinary, collaborative project that will prepare Latinx youth to become the next generation of leaders and workforce in STEM and Agriscience. Led by NCSU, STEM AP will improve STEM participation, persistence, and career readiness among Latinx youth in North Carolina and Washington. The project draws from culturally responsive pedagogy, behavioral science theory, and evidence-based practice, and will establish a replicable, scalable program that improves Latinx youth representation in post-secondary STEM education programs and advances DEIA work within the LGU Extension System. The project objectives include: 1. Increase opportunities for Latinx youth to engage in STEM education and workforce activities; 2. Enhance the skills and capacities of Latinx youth to engage with STEM APP learning and career opportunities; and 3. Increase the motivation of STEM APP youth to engage in STEM-related learning and career opportunities. 4. Develop the National Juntos Consortium to support the scalability and sustainability of Juntos and Juntos STEM AP. Through this innovative approach, combining 4-H Thriving Model, positive youth development, and the behavior change process as defined within the COM-B framework, the project will increase Latinx youth STEM identity (i.e. seeing themselves as successful in a STEM career pathway) and the likelihood to pursue and be successful in a STEM (agricultural sciences) career. The project will also launch the National Juntos Consortium, a first-of-its-kind collaborative Extension initiative with representation in all national regions focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

This project will leverage MCS scholarship funds with existing DEIA initiatives and programs in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University (NCSU) to improve access of historically underserved and under-representative undergraduates (HU3) to forestry and renewable energy careers and graduate education. There is a large gap between Women, Indigenous, Latino/Hispanic, and Black worker employment in the general workforce versus forestry and renewable energy (RE) workforces. Women, Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Indigenous worker employment is 48%, 13%, 17%, and <1% nationwide but only 19%, 4%, 19%, and 1% in forestry and 27%, 8%, 15%, and 2.3% in RE in NC. Forestry job growth is stable at 5% growth by 2030, but expected renewable energy job growth is 50% by 2029. NC estimates 28,000 new RE jobs by 2030. The project goal is to expand leverage current HU3 recruitment pilot programs to forestry careers and graduate training to include RE careers or graduate training in collaboration with three historically black universities. The project objectives are to provide 24 scholarships to support NCSU and HBU HU3 students to complete a forestry management major/minor (NCSU and Tuskegee University) and/or an online RE Assessment (REA) minor (NCSU) or certificate (St. Augustine���s, Shaw Universities). Institutional and SEL funds will support community, peer-mentoring, leadership training, and professional development through an IDEAS Scholars Cohort and HBU Scholar and faculty participation in study abroad courses, industry internships, externships, and summer research experiences. External assessment will evaluate changes in Scholar and Faculty knowledge and perceptions of Scholar access and success to enter the forestry and RE workforces.

This project is a subaward from NCDPI to the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation as part of a Brady Education Foundation-funded feasibility study focused on reducing chronic absenteeism in northeastern North Carolina schools. The broader project uses a Positive Deviance framework to identify schools that achieve stronger attendance outcomes than statistically comparable peers and to translate their successful practices into feasible strategies for adoption by similar schools. The Friday Institute���s role centers on qualitative research and feasibility measurement. Specifically, the Friday Institute will support the design of a practitioner kickoff event, conduct virtual qualitative data collection, develop feasibility surveys for ORPP distribution, conduct brief monthly check-ins with non-Bright Spot schools during the implementation period, and contribute qualitative and feasibility findings to support the ORPP-led development of dissemination products including a playbook, action plan template, facilitation guide, and data toolkit. All research activities involving human subjects will be conducted under NC State University IRB approval.

North Carolina is building and testing infrastructure to enable responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in K���12 education, serving as a leader across the nation with statewide resources, guidance, and educator-facing supports. Across the state, the foundation for AI in K���12 is being shaped by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and leadership from other education organizations such as the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University, the Data Science and AI Academy at NC State University, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education, and other cross-sector partners. At the same time, districts, schools, educators, and students are actively experimenting with AI in real instructional contexts (planning, learning activities, tutoring, and classroom work), often at different speeds and with different levels of access and supports. The Landscape Analysis of AI Use in K���12 Education in NC will capture a clear, statewide picture of current AI use by teachers and students by documenting practices across Public School Units, charter schools, and private schools. Specifically, this project aims to (1) identify how key stakeholder groups (district leaders, principals, lead teachers, classroom teachers, parents, and students) are using AI; (2) describe where AI is being integrated or intentionally not integrated across curriculum, instruction, learning activities, lessons, tutoring, and data-use practices; and (3) surface innovative opportunities for more strategic, equitable, and effective use that can inform next-step guidance and support.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has publicly identified a set of AttendNC Bright Spot schools that have demonstrated stronger chronic absenteeism outcomes than statistically comparable peers (see AttendNC Bright Spots announcement). This scope of work focuses on a targeted set of Bright Spot schools across northeastern North Carolina counties, with the goal of validating whether observed outcomes are attributable to identifiable district and school actions. This study will surface initial evidence about the practices, conditions, and district-level supports that may be contributing to stronger chronic absenteeism outcomes in these schools, and will lay the groundwork for subsequent study activities. The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University will lead this pilot study, with activities including the development of focus group and interview protocols, IRB submission, in-person and virtual data collection with district and school leaders, analysis, and a summary memo of findings. This Scope of Work describes the activities, deliverables, budget, and timeline for the summer launch phase of the broader study.

The purpose of the teacher compensation models and advanced teaching roles program is to allow highly effective classroom teachers to teach an increased number of students by assuming accountability for additional students, either by becoming a lead classroom teacher accountable for the student performance of all of the students taught by teachers on that lead classroom teacher's team, or by leading a larger effort in the school to implement new instructional models to improve school-wide performance. In addition, the program enables local school administrative units to provide salary supplements to classroom teachers in advanced teaching roles to create innovative compensation models that focus on classroom teacher professional growth and student outcomes. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the impact of the teacher compensation models and advanced teaching roles program on teaching and learning as described in North Carolina General Assembly Session Law 2020-78, Section 2.6(b). In addition, this evaluation includes a comparative analysis of program implementation in order to help identify and scale the most effective components of these programs. To provide a more complete understanding of the implementation and impact of these programs, the evaluation will use a mixed methods convergent design, in which different but complementary data are collected concurrently or sequentially. The evaluation will be conducted in several phases and will make use of secondary data collected by NCDPI to provide quantitative estimations of the program���s impact on select teaching and learning outcomes, as well as primary data collected directly from Public School Units in order to examine the similarities, differences, and patterns across program implementation.