along slant walk
Co-principal investigators for the $1.49 million NSF grant are Kumar Singh (center) and Fazeel Khan (far left), both professors of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering; Robert Davis, associate dean at the Regionals (not pictured); and Rose Marie Ward (second from right), associate dean of the Graduate School. Other faculty involved include Marianne Murphy, chair of Computer Information Technology, Regionals (second from left); Mert Bal, chair of Engineering Technology, Regionals (not pictured); Daniela Inclezan, associate professor, Computer Science and Software Engineering (far right); and Zhiyuan Yu, assistant professor of Engineering Technology, Regionals (not pictured).
Filling the STEM Gap National Science Foundation grant of $1.49 million will help students with financial needs obtain degrees in STEMrelated fields.
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miamian magazine
Over the next six years, a $1.49 million grant
from the National Science Foundation (NSF) is expected to fund 132 scholarships for highachieving Miami University students with financial need interested in earning degrees in engineering, computer science, and technology. Nationwide, there is a critical demand in the growing areas of computer science, advanced manufacturing, and robotics, but there is a gap in the current workforce and required skill sets, said Kumar Singh, professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Singh is principal investigator for the NSF grant, which is a collaborative effort between Miami’s Oxford and Regional campuses. “This National Science Foundation STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) grant will have a tremendous impact on the college,” said Beena Sukumaran, dean of Miami’s College of Engineering and Computing. “It aligns with our goals by providing access to diverse student populations.” Singh and Fazeel Khan, a departmental colleague, have launched a project to better align engineering programs at Miami with industry needs through the university’s “Boldly Creative” Strategic Academic Enrichment Initiative. The two professors are members of a Miami team who received nearly $600,000 from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to help induct more students into Ohio’s workforce. This Choose Ohio First grant supports more than a dozen Ohio students per year who are studying robotics, manufacturing, or automation.