News Release

$30M NSF grants establish new centers for learning and teaching at Missouri, Rutgers, Berkeley

Grant and Award Announcement

U.S. National Science Foundation

ARLINGTON, Va.--The National Science Foundation today announced the award of 5-year, $2 million annual grants to the University of Missouri, Rutgers, and the University of California- Berkeley to establish new K-12 Centers for Learning and Teaching.

The purpose of the grants are to build current and future leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through the schools' graduate programs; improve elementary and secondary education practice, and provide opportunities for research.

The foundation supports Centers for Learning and Teaching that specialize in one of three categories: Issues in Elementary and Secondary Education, Issues in Higher Education and Nanotechnology Education. Today's awards raise to 13 the number of centers focused on elementary and secondary issues. There are presently two centers for higher education and faculty enhancement. A solicitation to establish the first nanotechnology centers is currently open.

"These awards demonstrate the National Science Foundation's continued commitment to addressing science, technology, engineering and mathematics education concerns at all levels," said Dr. Judith A. Ramaley, who leads NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources. "The centers will be the link between science and the science of learning."

UC-Berkeley has titled its center "Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science," or "TELS." TELS, led by Berkeley's Marcia C. Linn, is a collaboration between Arizona State University, Boston University, Mills College, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Penn State University, the Technion Institute of Technology, Berkeley (Calif.) Public Schools, Mount Diablo (Calif.) Unified School District, Tempe (Ariz.) public schools and Maynard (Mass.) Public Schools.

The University of Missouri has titled its center the "Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum," which will be led by Barbara Reys. Collaborators include Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, University of Chicago, Horizon Research, Inc., Columbia (Mo.) Public School District, Novi (Mich.) Community School District, Battle Creek (Mich.) Public Schools and Kalamazoo (Mich.) Public Schools.

Rutgers has titled its center, led by Joseph G. Rosenstein, "The Center for Mathematics in America's Cities." This center unites Rutgers with the City University of New York, the University of Pennsylvania, and other New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey public school districts and institutions.

All of the centers are "virtual" centers; no actual facilities or infrastructure is being built as part of the grants.

###

Program Officer: Janice Earle, (703) 292- 292-5097, jearle@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators:
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey- Joseph G. Rosenstein, (732) 445-4065,
joer@dimacs.rutgers.edu
University of Missouri- Barbara Reys, (573) 882-8744, reysb@missouri.edu
University of California- Berkeley- Marcia C. Linn, (510) 643-6379, mclinn@socrates.berkeley.edu

University Press Office Contacts:
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey- Patricia Lamiell, (732) 932-7084, ext. 615,
plamiell@ur.rutgers.edu
University of Missouri- Mary Jo Banken, (573) 882-6211, BankenM@missouri.edu
University of California- Berkeley- Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651, ckm@pa.urel.berkeley.edu

NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources, under the leadership of Dr. Judith A. Ramaley, guides the nation's research based education programs and initiatives at the elementary through high school, undergraduate and graduate levels to foster academic and professional pursuits in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The directorate's 2003 funding by Congress was $903.17 million.

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5.3 billion. National Science Foundation funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards. The National Science Foundation also awards over $200 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

Receive official National Science Foundation news electronically through the e-mail delivery system, NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to join-nsfnews@lists.nsf.gov. In the body of the message, type "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. (Ex.: "subscribe nsfnews John Smith")

Useful National Science Foundation Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
News Highlights: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa
Newsroom: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/start.htm
Science Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm
Awards Searches: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a6/A6Start.htm


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.