The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced funding of nearly $29 million through its Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program.
Since its founding in 2017, the HSI program now supports more than 150 projects that enable institutions to better serve students from groups historically underrepresented in the sciences and expand the pathways available to them for graduate education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers.
“Enhancing the quality and accessibility of STEM education is far too complex of a challenge for a one-size-fits-all solution and it is imperative that we engage in creative and meaningful partnerships with HSIs at speed and at scale to meet the STEM needs of our nation,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “If we are to successfully advance America’s future STEM workforce, we must enhance educational opportunities, build capacity, and increase student participation, retention, and career sustainability at our nation’s academic institutions. NSF’s investments in this program will do just that.”
NSF’s investment in the HSI-Net will establish several centers, including the HSI Center for Community Coordination and the HSI Center for Evaluation, Research, and Synthesis.
Together, the centers and hubs will promote excellence in research that impacts the HSI community, including STEM education and broadening participation in research.
They will conduct activities designed to support and foster collaborations and partnerships in the HSI community, expand student and faculty development and growth, and promote the advancement of historically underrepresented groups in STEM.
“The HSI program is designed to serve the diverse HSI community with unique needs and their students and faculty,” said Erika T. Camacho, director of the HSI program. “Through the creation of the HSI-Net, we are supporting community transformation efforts at HSIs to collectively contribute to research on HSIs and their capacity to address equity in education and intentionally serve their students to better prepare them to address future challenges. The HSI-Net will allow us to further impact the STEM research enterprise and workforce for the success and prosperity of our nation.”
Camacho is a Mexican-born American mathematical biologist and an associate professor of applied mathematics at Arizona State University. She is a 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring awardee.
As part of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, the NSF HSI program team hosted a workshop at the White House Initiative Latino Economic Summit.
The session offer insight into NSF’s funding priorities for advancing excellence in undergraduate STEM education and investments that enhance educational opportunities, build capacity and increase student uptake and career pathways throughout the nation’s Hispanic-serving institutions.
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