Grant Provides Scholarship, Salary Stipends, and Professional Development for STEM Grads to Become Teachers
Graduates of programs in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) have an opportunity to turn their passion for STEM into a career in teaching.
The University of Kentucky College of Education is working to use a $1.71 million National Science Foundation grant to help address a continued shortage of STEM teachers in the Commonwealth.
Through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 2 at the University of Kentucky, 10 applicants will be selected as Noyce fellows and receive $34,760, which can be used for UK’s Master of Arts in Teaching in STEM program, and a $15,000 stipend per year to enhance their teaching salary during their first four years in a Kentucky school district.
The program is named for Noyce, a physicist who helped develop the microchip.
“This five-year project aims to help address the need to prepare highly qualified STEM teachers for classrooms in the Commonwealth,” said Jennifer Wilhelm, Ph.D., the principal investigator on the grant project and a professor in the Department of STEM Education.
In addition to financial support for their master’s degree and stipend, Wilhelm noted that Noyce Fellows will have an opportunity to engage in strategic STEM activities during their first four years of teaching.
“The goal is that they will be equipped as effective STEM educators and active in leading colleagues in their schools, districts, and professional organizations,” Wilhelm said.
Requirements to apply for the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program include:
- an undergraduate degree in a STEM field with at least a 2.75 grade point average (must be obtained by May 2026)
- an interest in becoming a certified 8th-12th grade teacher in Kentucky
The GRE is not required for admission.
Wilhelm can be reached at Jennifer.wilhelm@uky.edu.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. 2448224. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.