The Sponsored Research Administration and Research Compliance (SPARC) Office would like to congratulate the following faculty members on their grant awards from the National Science Foundation. These awards are the impressive result of their hard work and diligence.

Klaus Bartschat, PhD, Ellis & Nelle Levitt Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy was awarded a three-year, $319,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for his project entitled Photon- and Electron-Driven Atomic Collision Processes: General Theory and Accurate Numerical Calculations.

This study examines collisions of light (mostly lasers) and charged particles (mostly electrons) with atoms and ions. Elastic and inelastic processes, including excitation, single and double ionization, autoionization, and excitation-ionization for a wide variety of targets will be investigated by combining general collision theory with the development and subsequent application of highly sophisticated numerical methods. Continuing the close interaction with many groups in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia will lead to a deeper understanding of the quantum-mechanical collision dynamics while simultaneously producing data needed for many modelling applications, specifically in plasma and astrophysics.

Jerrid Kruse, PhD, Professor, and Lindsay Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, Teaching and Learning Department, were awarded a three-year, $628,791 grant for their project entitled, Engaging Elementary Teachers in Developing and Implementing Instructional Materials Promoting Socioscientific Literacy.

Navigating complex societal issues such as water shortages, forest fires, and other phenomena-based problems requires understanding the social, technological, and scientific dimensions surrounding the issues and the ways these dimensions interact, shift, and change. Despite its importance, however, developing students’ socioscientific literacy has received limited attention in elementary science teaching and learning contexts. This project begins to address this problem of practice by focusing first on developing elementary teachers’ socioscientific literacy and their capacity to integrate socioscientific issues and local phenomena in their science teaching practice.

— Preston Miller, Sponsored Programs Administration and Research Compliance