Council on Science and Technology

As part of its Science and Engineering Education Initiative, the Council on Science and Technology is encouraging the use of research-based teaching methods to increase learning and engagement in the classroom.  We have staff members who are dedicated to helping faculty members with the implementation of active learning in the courses that the Council oversees.  In addition, we would like to provide faculty members with incentives to explore and experiment with these methods on their own or at a time/location of their choosing.  We would like to leverage the fact that these changes in STEM teaching are happening nationally, and offer you an opportunity to participate in the new frontiers of teaching.

The Council is offering $5,000 STEM Teaching Workshop Travel Awards that may be used by any faculty member, including lecturers, who will be teaching an undergraduate science, math or engineering course at Princeton during the 2013-2014 academic year.  Those whose primary appointment is as postdoctoral researchers are not eligible.  The award will be provided in the form of reimbursement for actual expenses for travel, lodging and the cost of attending a workshop on the topic of transforming the classroom experience in STEM undergraduate education.  A list of workshops that Council staff can recommend may be found on the Council’s website under STEM Teaching Workshops, but other discipline-specific workshops on this topic may be eligible as well.  We envision sponsoring attendance at multi-day workshops on the subject of active learning rather than brief workshops that are part of a general disciplinary conference.

We will offer a rolling proposal process with proposals accepted through June 1, 2013.  Priority will be given to faculty members who are teaching the courses that the Council oversees – science and engineering courses that are intended for all undergraduates and that do not carry prerequisites.  The workshops themselves may take place between now and June 30, 2014.  To apply, please send an email to epaine@princeton.edu with:

.a link or file with the workshop description

.the undergraduate course you will be teaching in AY 2013-2014

After the program is approved by the Council as qualifying for the award, we will request a letter from your department chair supporting your effort, and confirmation from you that participation in the workshop is not in conflict with the percent effort commitment for your grants or summer salary.

We hope this will provide an incentive for faculty members to newly experience and adopt research-based teaching methods in support of our joint goals to enhance undergraduate STEM teaching at Princeton.