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The Science of Collaboration
MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center focuses on outreach and leadership in the wider science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education community
by Patsy Weiler and Stephanie Wagner
MTSU launched into the 21st century world of STEM education with help from a $300,000 NASA grant to open a small center on campus focused on programming and support for Tennessee teachers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Two decades later, the Tennessee STEM Education Center (TSEC) remains an outreach arm of MTSU aimed at improving K–20 education in science, technology, engineering, and math, both locally and nationally.
These days, it has rocketed from a single star to become a bright constellation in the STEM education universe, building a scientific community and research culture through collaboration, outreach, and vital grant funding, and has generated numerous grants from prestigious organizations including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Institute of Educational Sciences.
The center generates millions of dollars in external funding from a plethora of proposals that have deeply benefited MTSU.
Steady Rise
When it started around 1999, the center was called the Tennessee Math, Science and Technology Education Center because NASA would not let MTSU call itself a STEM center—at the time, engineering courses were not offered at the University.
After Tom Cheatham was appointed the director in 2012, the former College of Basic and Applied Sciences dean recommended changing the name to the Tennessee STEM Education Center, which the Tennessee Board of Regents approved.
Under his watch, the center continued to assist with professional development for Tennessee’s STEM teachers, strove to publish what staff and faculty were developing and learning as best practices, and supported University faculty in STEM education grant funding, leaving a strong foundation to build upon for future scholars.
A high-energy Greg Rushton assumed the TSEC reins in 2018, with a laser focus on STEM education, innovation, and research.
Before moving to his new Southern address, he worked at New York’s Stony Brook University on Long Island as associate director of the Institute for STEM Education and an associate professor of chemistry. Over the course of his career, he has directed or co-directed more than 25 research or professional development projects, with external awards exceeding $18 million since 2005.
“The success I’ve experienced during my academic career has come in large part from the invitation of others to join such an endeavor; I’m now in a position to do the same for others,” Rushton said.
TSEC helps develop faculty research by having associate and assistant directors from various STEM departments across campus, as well as faculty fellows, serve as part of the center’s leadership team.
Current associate directors are Sarah Bleiler-Baxter (Mathematical Sciences), Grant Gardner (Biology), Ying Jin (Psychology), Chaney Mosley (Agriculture), and Kevin Ragland.
MTSU WAS SELECTED BY THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES AS A PARTNER INSTITUTION ON A NEARLY $1 MILLION RESEARCH GRANT AWARDED TO THE STATE.
Rushton has a solid mission in mind for TSEC: serve as a model of expertise and leadership in STEM education through the growth of internal and external research initiatives, fostering of partnerships, and expansion of educational programs, while seeking to engage with other stakeholders invested in STEM education.
“TSEC is positioned well, within MTSU, Tennessee, and the Southeast, for continued growth as a STEM leader for educators in both K–12 and higher education, as well as a provider of engaging experiences for K–12 students to explore STEM as a career path or as a lifelong learner,” said Rushton, who recently also served as interim co-director for strategic growth in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP).
Rushton and his dynamic staff equate the center to a strong tree with deep roots and many branches. The roots extend to the earliest days when the University opened in 1911 to prepare teachers; now, slightly more than a century later, advocating for STEM educators is a top TSEC priority. Hundreds of branches represent the many students, teachers, and STEM education researchers who have benefited from these efforts. Supporting the branches are strong limbs of faculty collaboration, community outreach, undergraduate and graduate student mentoring, and research—limbs that continue to grow.
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
A prime example of the type of collaboration Rushton seeks is when MTSU was selected by the Institute of Education Sciences as a partner institution on a nearly $1 million research grant awarded to the state.
The award supports research on the effectiveness of Tennessee Pathways, an initiative that aligns K–12 and postsecondary schools with industry to provide students with the relevant education and training necessary to seamlessly enter the workforce.
Mosley, assistant professor for Agricultural Education, serves as MTSU’s principal investigator. He works with staff from the Tennessee Department of Education, University of Tennessee, University of Massachusetts, and Education Strategy Group on the grant project.
Another exemplary project is a four-year, $609,435 award from the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program. It’s a collaborative research effort—“Investigating Classroom Discourse in Active Learning Environments for Large Enrollment Chemistry Courses”—aiming to serve the national interest.
MTSU’s researchers are joined by investigators from the universities of Iowa and Arizona and Rushton’s former home, Stony Brook University.
COMMUNITY-MINDED
Outreach designed to elevate, empower, and engage a strong network of STEM educators and students is vital to the center’s mission.
The Southeastern STEM Education Research Conference, hosted by TSEC, is an opportunity for regional researchers to connect, collaborate, and share about their ongoing work. Each annual conference has seen increases in submissions, participating institutions, and states and other countries represented.
Tennessee's Posters at the Capitol, an event in Nashville, annually showcases undergraduate research to state legislators and policymakers. Not only does MTSU take an average of seven undergraduate students featuring their research each year, but TSEC staff members coordinate organizational details for all participating universities.
The annual STEM Expo is a gathering of 600–800 fifth- through 12th-grade students from the region who bring their STEM projects to the MTSU campus to be evaluated.
TSEC also supports STEAM-a-Palooza at the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring in Murfreesboro.
And TSEC is actively involved with the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, a statewide organization working with the Tennessee Department of Education to make STEM learning better and more accessible. The state administers Battelle Foundation grants, creating learning hubs across Tennessee. MTSU receives one of these for its Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub, where center staff work with K–12 STEM educators.
Last but not least, center staff members help host grant-writing workshops and collaboration opportunities to support research at MTSU. Such initiatives are at the heart of what TSEC exists to do—to help expand the total number of faculty at MTSU who are interested in, and can successfully write, grants and contracts to support their scholarship.
“Sustained research over time gains attention as projects make a difference locally, within the state, nationally, and internationally,” David Butler, vice provost for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies, said of the benefits of this faculty research focus. “The more grants and contracts received, and the more scholarship produced following the funding, the higher the visibility of the University. This higher level of visibility increases the reputation and thus the ability to successfully secure more grants and contracts in the future in a positive spiral.
“Humanities, art, business, science, or social science … there is funding available for their scholarship … to support their work. Often a project that is small can be made larger in size and scope with grant and contract funding, creating a larger influence for the scholarship produced and the faculty members and students involved in the project,” Butler added.
Rushton said TSEC embraces its roles in research and service because they help us “understand and contribute to our needs as a society.”
“We are encountering our future quicker than at any time in history,” he added. “Consider Alexa and Siri, Amazon and Apple’s digital voice assistants, both applications of artificial intelligence, or AI. Most of us increasingly use this technology in our daily lives that barely more than a decade ago was largely unknown.
“Expanding STEM education and developing a strong research enterprise—through basic, applied, and experimental approaches—prepares MTSU to be a catalyst of innovation and recognized as a thought leader not only in Tennessee, but across the country and our world in a rapidly growing arena. TSEC is excited to take a key role in leading this growth and development.”
Rubber Meets Road
The following are some examples of the faculty TSEC has collaborated with to create informal, cooperative faculty research opportunities.
Chaney Mosley, assistant professor of Agricultural Education
Mosley’s field of research is career and technical education, agricultural education, and teacher professional development. Mosley is spearheading the collaboration of a $750,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant involving three universities. The three-year research endeavor, which includes MTSU students, will investigate soil management practices for improved soil health and the related effects on crop and animal productivity, food quality, and economic viability of integrated farming systems.
He said his most memorable research project is a collaborative grant that addresses farm and ranch stress in the southern region of the United States.
“This grant involves leading a collaborative team of agricultural education faculty from 13 states as well as Puerto Rico to investigate school-based agricultural education teacher knowledge, opinions, and professional development needs associated with suicide and experiences with student suicide,” Mosley said.
“Results of research studies will inform outreach efforts targeting agriculture teachers, so that they are better prepared to identify and respond to suicide ideation. This will be the most memorable project of my academic career. It represents the first funded project for which I am site primary investigator, and the topic is of great importance to me, having experienced student suicide as an educator. Also, because our research will lead to resources that support our target audience, it’s an excellent example of putting research into practice, which is part of what motivates me to conduct research.”
Tiffany Rogers, assistant professor of Psychology
Rogers’ field of research is social and affective neuroscience. Her most recent grant submission was for an Academic Research Enhancement Award for undergraduate-focused institutions through the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH).
“This grant is in collaboration with Dr. Deranda Lester of the University of Memphis,” Rogers said. “The grant would allow students of each institution, MTSU and U of M, to cross-train by traveling to each institution and learning the techniques of each researcher, myself, and Dr. Lester. The students would also be mentored by each researcher, and students could be paid for their work in the labs.”
Jennifer Kaplan, director of MTSU’s Mathematics and Science Education Ph.D. program
Passionate about science, technology, engineering, and math education, Kaplan in 2023 earned her fourth National Science Foundation grant to research student thinking in STEM and train STEM instructors to improve student learning.
Kaplan landed $154,929 in funding from the NSF to develop innovative assessments that analyze how undergraduate students use “interdisciplinary thinking”—using both a scientific and mathematical thinking—to understand scientific topics.
“In other words, how students engage in making sense of quantitative problems in biology, chemistry, and physics,” said Kaplan, who is also a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences. “Mathematical sensemaking in science focuses on students’ ability to blend core disciplinary science ideas with cross-cutting mathematical concepts, such as patterns and proportions, while engaging in scientific practices such as computational thinking, making predictions, and reasoning from evidence.”
Kaplan said since STEM fields are so interrelated, it is critical that students can integrate these different modes of thinking to solve problems and achieve what is known as “three-dimensional” learning.
“These assessments will reveal much more about student thinking than any assessments currently in use and will be essential in designing high-quality instruction that fosters mathematical sensemaking in science,” said Kaplan, who added the project will also provide professional development to instructors. “Findings from this project should help inform teaching practice in undergraduate STEM courses and help students foster computational thinking skills.”
Kaplan, who grew up in Massachusetts, spent 10 years as an accomplished high school mathematics teacher herself before deciding to pursue a Ph.D. and dive into STEM-education research, with a primary focus on statistics education.
In addition to this recent grant, she has earned more than $943,000 from the NSF for her work as both a principal and co-principal investigator on three other projects.
Several other STEM education grants funded this year included projects led by:
Alyson Lischka (Math)
Liz Barnes (Biology)
Yi Gu (Computer Science)
Kevin Ragland (TSEC)
Hanna Terletska (Physics)
Combined, these show MTSU’s considerable strength in STEM education research.
