Communications of the ACM
Nsf Graduate Fellowships Now Recognize STEM Education as Valid Research Field
The NSF's new designation recognizes that STEM education is "an important, legitimate pursuit for graduate research," says Noah Finkelstein, a physicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Credit: University of Colorado, Boulder
Ten years after the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) began funding the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education Program, NSF officials have formally recognized that improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is a legitimate research activity for a graduate student.
The NSF fellowship program is due to triple in size in response to the Obama Administration's plan to increase the number of domestic students entering the scientific workforce. "We wanted to clarify things, and say that we support research in this area," says NSF's James Lightbourne.
University of Colorado, Boulder's Noah Finkelstein says the new designation is "a big positive move." He says it recognizes that STEM education is "an important, legitimate pursuit for graduate research and for the portfolio of activities that NSF and scientists are responsible for."
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