Discovery Learning Research Center

Current Higher Education Research

NSF Advance entitled: ADVANCE-Purdue and the Center for Faculty Success

ADVANCE-Purdue an institutional transformation project that targets recruitment, retention, and advancement of women STEM faculty at Purdue University. The mission of ADVANCE-Purdue is to conduct research and evaluate PCFS's (Purdue Center for Faculty Success) programming, structure and institutionalization, and to institutionalize PCFS as a vibrant center integrated into the fabric of Purdue. While the focus of ADVANCE broadly speaking is the representation of women faculty in STEM, ADVANCE-Purdue explicitly concentrates on women of color. Our three guiding goals are:

1. To increase the number of underrepresented women in STEM faculty positions;
2. To improve the success of all women STEM faculty; and
3. To engage all faculty in transforming the institution, what we call "engaging the majority."

NIH Director's Pathfinder Award entitled: Institute for Accessible Science (IAS): Advancing Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Biomedical Laboratory Research

IAS promotes the inclusion and retention of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in biomedical science careers by lowering barriers through practical laboratory experiences, assistive technology (AT) development, student and educator support services and research. For more information contact Dr. Brad Duerstock (bsd@purdue.edu).

HHMI entitled: Deviating from the Standard: Integrating Statistical Analysis and Experimental Design into Life Science Education

The collaborative project led by Dennis Minchella, Professor and Associate Head of Biological Sciences, is a partnership among six faculty members from three colleges (Science, Agriculture, and Engineering) which plans to integrate statistical analysis and experimental design into life science education. For more information contact Dr. Dennis Minchella (dennism@purdue.edu).

NSF S-STEM entitled: Partnership for Recruiting and Retaining High Need, High Potential Students to Food,Environmental, Engineering, and Life Sciences ( FEELS)

FEELS represents a partnership between Purdue's College of Agriculture and the business community to recruit, retain, and equip 15-20 high-need/high-potential students through exceptional mentoring, learning and research experiences. FEELS Fellows will receive an intentional package of leveraged, successful programs strongly complemented by new FEELS-initiated academic and mentoring components. FEELS seeks to: increase diversity within Purdue's College of Agriculture, improve graduation and retention rates while enhancing student achievement, prepare students to become industry and academic leaders in the STEM professions, and increase awareness of STEM opportunities in high-need communities while enhancing our engagement with, and connection to, such regions. For more information contact Dr. John Patterson (jpatters@purdue.edu).

NSF Undergraduate Research Center (URC) entitled Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE)

The Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE) is a multi-institutional collaborative effort designed to address major barriers to providing research experiences to younger undergraduate science students. CASPiE takes advantage of complementary strengths and needs of its partner institutions to develop a program that will: 1) provide first and second year students with access to research experiences as part of the mainstream curriculum; 2) create a collaborative, “research group” environment for students in the laboratory; 3) provide access to advanced instrumentation through development of a remote instrumentation network; 4) help faculty develop undergraduate research projects that enhance their own research capacity; and 5) create a research experience that is engaging for women and ethnic minorities and appropriate for use at various types of institutions, including those with diverse populations. For more information contact Dr. Gabriela Weaver (gweaver@purdue.edu).

For information on our past projects, click here.