Grants to support student research, teacher training at Hope College

Mitchell Boatman, The Holland Sentinel
·2 min read

HOLLAND — A collection of grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium will support student and faculty research at Hope College and provide STEM support for area school districts.

Hope College received $84,000 to support 15 projects in this grant cycle. The grants include 11 student research fellowships, two seed grants for faculty research and two grants focused on STEM program support.

Hope College received a total of $84,000 from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium during the 2022-23 grant cycle to support 15 projects.
Hope College received a total of $84,000 from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium during the 2022-23 grant cycle to support 15 projects.

Hope will provide additional support, including stipends for students as they conduct research during the summer, and matching funds for the faculty and institutional projects.

Susan Ipri Brown, director of ExploreHope Academic Outreach and assistant professor of engineering, received two program support grants which will be used to support STEM initiatives.

More: ExploreHope receives funding to reach more students

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One grant will be used for a program titled “Preparing STEM Teachers.” This will expand the mentoring and training aspect of ExploreHope summer camps with a goal of better preparing future science and math teachers.

The second will support “Engineering the Future Academies,” which will help facilitate collaborations with youth serving organizations and school districts in the Holland area to provide STEM supplies, training and camp scholarships.

The students who received fellowships are Gabriel Balk, Dylan Clem, Skylar DeWitt, Bridget Gagnier, Sarah Grimes, Lindsay Jankowski, Ethan Jansen, Nicholas Kaipainen, Halle McGuire, Evan Thomas and William Vance. Each will explore a specified research topic with a professor.

For more information on the student research topics, visit hope.edu.

Grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium will support 15 projects at Hope College, including 11 student research fellowships.
Grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium will support 15 projects at Hope College, including 11 student research fellowships.

Two faculty received seed grants for research. Jeffery Christians, assistant professor of engineering, will explore “Understanding the Radiation Tolerance of Halide Perovskite Materials.” Assistant professor of biology Kelly Ronald will research a project titled “A New Canary in the Coalmine: The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) as a Model for Studying the Effects of Nanoparticle Matter in Air Pollution.”

The Michigan Space Grant Consortium, which is part of the National Space Grant Consortium, aims to “foster awareness of, education in and research on space-related science and technology.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Grants to support student research, teacher training at Hope College