A Madison organization announced Tuesday it will provide $7.2 million of support for UW-Madison science, technology, engineering and math programs, according to a university press release.
The Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates, based in Madison, will grant $3.2 million to the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning and another $4 million to the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, according to the release.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said jobs in the STEM industry are projected to grow 1.7 times faster than jobs in any other field.
While this would offer additional employment opportunities to college graduates, the release reveals less than 40 percent of students across the U.S. who enter college pursuing a STEM major actually graduate with a STEM degree.
“Sadly, often ineffective teaching is the main reason talented students leave STEM majors,” UW-Madison astronomy professor Robert D. Mathieu said in the release.
GLHECA’s $3.2 million grant to the center will go to STEM faculty training. Staff will work to develop new teaching strategies, techniques for interactive learning, team-building skills and methods of tracking student progress.
Mathieu said in the release most new STEM faculty devote their graduate training to research rather than teaching. However, the training can target future STEM faculty to change this, according to the report.
The remaining $4 million of Great Lakes support will go to hundreds of students across Wisconsin colleges, as part of an experiment conducted by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab.
Funding from the Madison Great Lakes will go into effect this fall and continue into spring of 2017.
