We are proud to announce funding of a NSF-STEP proposal entitled

STEPping up Undergraduate Research at Middle Tennessee

STEP^MT has been awarded $1.7M over the next five years. These funds will be used to increase discovery-based learning and undergraduate research in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines at MTSU.

The STEP^MT initiative will pursue three objectives...

1. Make research a unifying theme through curriculum reform from freshman through senior classes by implementing a discovery-based learning (DBL) instructional methodology.
2. Build an undergraduate research community consisting of teams of STEM faculty mentors and undergraduate researchers.
3. Expand the STEP^MT research community by forming working partnerships with local area high schools and industries, other Tennessee colleges and universities, and other universities offering Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs.
   

STEP^MT funds will be made available for...

• faculty reassignment time to allow departments to incorporate discovery-based learning techniques in the courses and labs offered by the department.
  
  
• student research projects. Lower division (freshmen & sophomores) students may apply for awards of $500 to assist upper division students or faculty members with their current research project. Upper division (juniors & seniors) students may apply for a $1000 award to conduct a research project with the support of a faculty mentor. Faculty mentors will receive a $500 award.
  
  
• summer research teams. Five member teams will be paid to conduct a research project over the summer break. These teams will consist of a MT faculty member, an upper division research scholar, a lower division research assistant, and a Rutherford County High School student and his/her teacher.
  
  
• summer undergraduate research in industry (STEP-IN). To aid STEM departments and local area business/industry partners establish new research internships for MT students, STEP^MT will provide 1/2 of the student's salary (up to $2500).

Seven STEM departments at Middle Tennessee qualify for STEP^MT funding:

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0431652.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.