Currently, Texas Tech University has a STEM Center (STEM CORE) focused on equipping and facilitating faculty success and productivity in outreach, research, and educational endeavors. This new grant will help broaden the mission and vision of STEM CORE with hopes of successfully impacting undergraduate students in STEM. While the undergraduate STEM Center resources will be accessible to all STEM students, specific programming will be utilized for the URM students in STEM.  

Dr. Lawrence Schovanec (PI) is President of Texas Tech University and Professor of Mathematics and Statistics. President Schovanec is a strong supporter of STEM education at TTU and is committed to the success of the proposed BAT-LSAMP Alliance. The co-PIs of this proposal will manage daily oversight of the proposed activities.  

Dr. Raegan Higgins (co-PI) is an associate professor of mathematics at TTU. As a minority herself (African American), Dr. Higgins is dedicated to mentoring minority undergraduates. She will serve as the Alliance director. In this role, she will oversee the overall implementation of the BAT-LSAMP Alliance, including coordinating BAT-LSAMP activities on the TTU campus and budget management and federal reporting to NSF.  

Dr. Jon McNaughtan (co-PI) is an assistant professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Psychology and the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Research on Leadership and Education. His research analyzes the role of community colleges (CCs) in enhancing the STEM pipeline. He will oversee the educational research of the program and work closely with the external evaluator to evaluate the program's success and then disseminate the results through publications and presentations through various outlets. Dr. McNaughtan will also collaborate with the external evaluator for the annual project evaluation. 

Dr. Jaclyn Cañas-Carrell (Senior Personnel) is an Interim Vice Provost for Curriculum, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, and immediate past Director of STEM CORE at TTU. In addition, she is the Director of the NIH-funded Plains Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program. In this role, she places students in laboratories for a summer research experience. In this project, Dr.  Cañas-Carrell will assist STEM CORE with the matching process of BAT-LSAMP participants for the Research Experience at Texas Tech University.  

Dr. Nancy McIntyre (Senior Personnel) is professor and associate department chair of biological sciences at TTU. She has been active in numerous STEM- and URM-related programs on campus (Senior Personnel NSF-LSAMP 1701664). As an Associate Director of STEM CORE, Dr. McIntyre will play a role in developing and implementing the TTU STEM Center. In addition, she will serve as the Director of the President's STEM Mentoring Academy at TTU.  

Dr. Jessica Spott (Senior Personnel) is the Director of the STEM Center for Outreach, Research and Education (STEM CORE) at Texas Tech University. The new STEM Center at TTU will be housed under STEM CORE. Dr. Spott will assist with hiring the STEM advisor and facilitate the day-to-day operations of the STEM Center as it pertains to undergraduate students. In addition, she will oversee the implementation of the STEM Center at TTU and will work with the Retention Advisor/Coordinator (to be hired in STEM CORE) to manage the peer mentoring program.  

Dr. Tiberio Garza (External Evaluator) is an assistant professor of Educational Psychology & Higher Education and Associate Director for the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment at UNLV. He has over seven years of evaluation experience and served as an evaluator for over 15 federal, state, and local grants. He is nationally recognized for evaluation awards from the American Evaluation Association and Annie E. Casey Foundation. He will be responsible for conducting the evaluation. 

To find out more about the BAT-LSAMP Alliance, see the BAT-LSAMP Homepage. 

This program is funded by the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, Award # 2110048.