Gabriel LeBlanc, Wellspring Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in The University of Tulsa’s Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences, has been awarded a $350,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Education Grant through the Education Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research program. LeBlanc’s project is titled “Developing Skills in Qualitative Analysis for a New STEM Education Researcher through the Evaluation of Science Identity in Student-Workers.”
The NSF program is designed to enable researchers to expand their areas of expertise to conduct rigorous research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. It supports projects that build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research and seeks to broaden the pool of researchers who can advance knowledge regarding STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields and STEM workforce development.
LeBlanc became interested in STEM education research following his experience as the general chemistry lab coordinator from fall 2021 through spring 2023 and learned about the NSF program from Carrie Hall (B.S. ’06, M.S. ’11), lead program director at the foundation. He will implement a pilot project involving the evaluation of student-worker experiences in different science-based work positions, with the help of mentors Laura Foley of UTulsa and Katy Hosbein of Middle Tennessee State University.
“Beyond this pilot project, I will be taking courses and attending conferences and workshops related to STEM education research,” LeBlanc said. “In the long-term, I hope to leverage these new research skills in conjunction with my new role as the Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge program director to better understand the impacts of science experiences outside the classroom for undergraduate students.”