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Westminster College Professor and Student Attend National Noyce Summit

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Posted on Monday, September 5, 2016

Dr. Amy Camardese, professor and chair of Westminster College’s School of Education, and David McCollough, Westminster junior biology major, attended the National Noyce Summit in Washington, D.C., in July.

Westminster College is one of more than 450 institutions nationwide – and one of only two programs in western Pennsylvania – to hold a National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. Westminster’s grant, IQ:STEM (Increasing Quality Science, Technology and Math Teachers), is a competitive scholarship and training program for individuals with strong STEM backgrounds who might not otherwise have considered a career in K-12 teaching.

“It was impressive to see the scope and breadth of Noyce Scholarship programs around the country,” said Camardese. “It was affirming to realize that a small liberal arts college in rural western Pennsylvania had an NSF program that compared to those at much larger universities.”

McCollough’s experience gave him several new ideas about how to manage classrooms, get students involved in the community and cope with different situations, as well as many connections from across the country. His favorite part of the conference was the panel where past Noyce Scholars shared stories and tips from their first year of teaching.

“It was amazing to me how large the Noyce Scholars program really is,” McCollough said. “I am used to our program but, on the national scale, the program is quite impressive. It was also very interesting to learn about how each different college had their program set up and cool to see how they differed from ours.”

Contact Camardese, principal investigator, at 724-946-7183 (email camarda@westminster.edu) or Dr. Karen Resendes, Westminster associate professor of biology and grant coordinator, at 724-946-7211 (email resendkk@westminster.edu) for additional information.

Visit www.westminster.edu/admissions/financial-aid/iqstem for more information on Westminster’s IQ:STEM program.