Grant Awards

Tami Augustine, Associate Professor-Clinical, Department of Teaching and Learning

“Opening Pathways to Teaching in Ohio” (OPT in OH) aims to address the K-12 educator shortage problem by providing teacher preparation scholarships to at least 30 participants interested in pursuing or expanding career opportunities in education. The project aims to expand opportunities in teacher education to increase the number of teachers entering the field and to provide secondary licenses to current practitioners to address the needs of under-served student populations. In addition, the project will focus on retaining talented educators by providing professional development to address factors that drive them out of the profession.

Edward Fletcher, Professor, Department of Educational Studies

The project serves the national need of recruiting and retaining highly effective Black male high school STEM teachers. This research project will investigate factors influencing the effectiveness and retention of Black male STEM teachers in high-need school districts. The project outcomes will highlight the voices, knowledge, and experiences of both Black male STEM career academy teachers and ethnically and racially diverse students to provide critical insights and perspectives into how instructional strategies may engage diverse learners and promote their STEM college and career interests.

Chris (Jiangjiang) Zhu, Assistant Professor, Department of Human Sciences

With this grant funding, the project team will investigate the gut microbiota-mediated effect of whole wheat consumption on metabolomes, metabolic health, and gut health in a cohort of adults with prediabetes. Identifying the microbes, microbial pathways and metabolites that modulate the nutritional value of the highly consumed, potentially beneficial whole wheat products, and identifying biomarkers for these microbial processes will help to guide dietary recommendations with the ultimate goal of optimizing the health benefits of whole wheat.

Stephen Gavazzi, Professor, Department of Human Sciences

The purpose of this project is two-fold. First, to join with the descendants of Ohio’s First Peoples who were forcibly exiled from Ohio and imprisoned, interned and/or resettled during the founding of the State of Ohio, and to learn from them their understanding of this history and its multigenerational legacy of compounding injustice and disparities. Second, to advocate alongside these Tribal Nations and communities to repair the harm caused by these historical land dispossessions – including social and economic restitution.

For more information: https://u.osu.edu/landgranttruth/

Jay Plasman, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational StudiesJay Plas

This project will be the first to evaluate the efficacy of engineering career and technical education (E-CTE) courses and to understand how these courses might link to the transition from high school into engineering fields in college as well as career aspirations with an emphasis on potential benefits for students with learning disabilities. Specifically, the project will identify which E-CTE courses students with learning disabilities are taking, how E-CTE coursework may encourage persistence along the engineering pipeline (e.g., STEM attitudes, college enrollment, earning an engineering credential), and the link between E-CTE participation and engineering-related career aspirations.

Matthew Mayhew, Professor, Department of Educational Studies

With this grant funding, the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey- United Kingdom team will explore through survey and case study research how different campus climates enable or impede positive relationships among students of different faiths and worldview perspectives, including varieties of faith, spirituality and non-religion. The project will enable universities and religion and belief-focused organizations to enhance inter- and intra-faith relations among students, better equipping them to relate respectfully to those with a different outlook from their own.

Laura Justice, Professor; Executive Director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC)

Oral clefts are among the most common birth defects, affecting 1 in 700 live births. Although problems with language and literacy have been well-documented in children with clefts, there are currently no studies of interventions to address these problems. This study will be the first to test the efficacy of a shared reading intervention, developed to meet the needs of children with oral clefts and their caregivers, in improving language and literacy outcomes.

David Julian, Program Director of Equity, Engagement and Evaluation

With this grant funding, the CETE Equity Engagement and Evaluation Team will provide support for the Ohio Interagency Council for Youth (OICY) through a variety of planning and evaluation services including strategic planning, logic model development, outcomes definition, random assignment, and experimental evaluation. The OICY was convened in part to improve treatment access and quality of services for youth and emerging adults (ages 12-25) with substance use disorders (SUDs) or SUDs and co-occurring mental health disorders.