A grant will aid 24 Rider University students in the pursuance of teaching careers in lower income communities.
LAWRENCE -- Rider University received a $1.45 million grant from the National Science Foundation to provide financial assistance to Rider students seeking to become science teachers in at-risk urban communities.
The grant, one of Rider's largest ever, the university said in a statement, will provide scholarship for 24 students studying to become high school science, technology, engineering and math teachers in communities like Camden, Trenton and Freehold Borough.
The initiative, called STEM-Ed, will use a grow-your-own pipeline strategy, where Rider will recruit heavily from those districts that the university plans on sending the program's graduates.
STEM-Ed scholars will earn full-tuition scholarships, funding to participate in summer research opportunities and education materials, such as laptops or textbook stipends.
This National Science Foundation STEM-Ed program aims to strengthen the number of high quality teachers in lower income New Jersey communities.
"Unequal access to adequate K-12 STEM education in the United States is undebatable," Rider's science Professor Danielle Jacobs said. "Our STEM-Ed pipeline program will expand the delivery of cogent and engaging STEM subjects to traditionally underserved populations in New Jersey, and in doing so diversify the body of STEM practitioners."
"Diversity is the key to innovation," Jacobs said in the statement. "Differences in backgrounds, beliefs and experiences allow for different perspectives and thought processes. Unfortunately, the lack of diversity among STEM teachers in the U.S. perpetuates a dangerously homogenous workforce."
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