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Without having to use a lifeline or marry a perfect stranger in front of a live television audience, UMass Boston has won over two million dollars. To be exact, $2,423,234 in grant money has been awarded to 59 projects during the period from January 1 through March 31, according to current figures from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. The grants range in size from $2,000 to $200,000 and bring new and continuing support to projects throughout the University community.
The grants represent months of hard work developing projects and then finding the appropriate funds. One recipient, Biology Assistant Professor Brian White, was granted $110,184 by the National Science Foundation for his project "Career: Exploring Authentic Inquiry: Factors that Influence Students' Learning of the Process of Science." The grant will cover the first year of research on how UMass Boston biology students understand science before and after taking introductory biology. White describes the grant as one geared toward "young investigators" who "mix teaching and research." UMass Boston students are not only the subject of the study, but will also be the beneficiaries when the results are used to reexamine how biology is taught at the introductory level.
Patricia Monteith, general manager of WUMB, was granted $80,076 for three separate projects, one of which is the new WUMB program "Commonwealth Journal," hosted by Elizabeth Sherman, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the McCormack Institute. Sherman says that she is "thrilled to receive sponsorship from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities" and adds that the program, (produced entirely by WUMB) "brings many interesting cultural, social, and political issues" to the airwaves.
One of the larger awards went to Lee Teitel of the Graduate College of Education. $156,120 was granted by Boston College for his "Mass Coalition for Teacher Quality and Student Achievement" project. On a related education note, the Institute for Learning and Teaching received a total of $240,813 for eleven grants that contribute to many areas of the Boston Public Schools. Project titles range from "Adult Literacy Resource Institute" to "School to Career."
The grant money continues to come in and will support more research projects and other programs that will make UMass Boston's reputation shine.