Union was one of only 10 colleges
nationwide to receive National Science Foundation Awards for the Integration of Research
and Education (AIRE), the NSF announced this week.
The award is a $500,000 three-year grant to design and
implement programs that extend the College's vision to integrate research and
education.
“The NSF AIRE award is an outstanding validation of
the kind of inquiry-driven investigative learning that we value at Union College,”
said Dean of Faculty Linda Cool. “It demonstrates that our faculty are thinking in
exciting and innovative ways about involving our students in collaboration and
research.”
Other AIRE recipients are Colby College, Grinnell College,
Harvey Mudd College, Hope College, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Reed College,
Wellesley College and Coastal Carolina University.
Union was selected from a field of 56 applicants that
included most of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. The College was selected
over seven other institutions consistently ranked in the top 10 of national liberal arts
colleges.
“These institutions are strengthening the bonds
between research and education by designing and implementing new ways to involve
undergraduate students in the process of discovery,” said Joe Bordogna, NSF's
acting deputy director. “These new awards help create a discovery-rich environment
where institutions and their students can benefit from making research an essential
component of school curriculum,” he added.
Union has integrated investigative learning throughout its
science and engineering curricula with new programs that cross disciplines, pilot new
pedagogical models and incorporate international field experiences. Union proposes to
extend its vision with new courses that bridge the gap between engineering and the liberal
arts and that integrate research and international experiences.
A number of people were vital in preparing Union's
proposal, said Cool. They were John Garver, Joe Zolner, David Hayes, Mike Rudko, Brad
Lewis, Byron Nichols, Ron Bucinell, John Spinelli, Chris LaPlante, George Williams, Tom
Werner, Rob Olberg, Barbara Boyer, Kristin Fox, Jay Newman, Les Hull, Charlie Scaife,
Peter Tobiessen, Karen Brison, Hal Fried, Doug Klein, Jim McWhirter, Pat Allen, Christie
Sorum, Dave Hannay, Dwight Wolf, Pat Tappa, Jim Underwood and Terry Weiner.