October 28, 2025
Five-year, $750,000 National Science Foundation grant will fund scholarships for students looking to teach in STEM fields
It won’t take a microscope to see the benefits a grant from the National Science Foundation will have in funding scholarships at St. Mary’s University’s School of Science, Engineering and Technology for students who are pursuing a teaching career in a STEM-related field.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship — a national award founded by the family of American physicist Robert Noyce — is a five-year, $750,000 grant that will assist those seeking a Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Mathematics. All four majors offer degree options that include teacher certification.
Students can now apply for the scholarship if they are at least in their junior year of college. If selected, they will get $13,750 a year for up to three years. Students will be able to continue the scholarship as long as they meet the scholarship’s GPA requirement.
For each year of scholarship awarded, the recipient must commit to two years of teaching at the kindergarten through 12th grade level in a high-needs school district. A high-needs district is defined as one with unique challenges, such as high poverty rates, teacher shortages or teachers working outside of their content area.
“STEM has many career opportunities, and one of them is teaching,” said Professor of Environmental Science David Turner, Ph.D., and lead investigator of the grant. “Everybody can reflect and think back on that one teacher whose name you clearly remember because he or she made a big impact.”
Turner worked alongside Associate Professor of Education Angeli Willson, Ph.D., and Professor of Biological Sciences Christine Gray, Ph.D., to secure the grant.
Along with scholarships, the grant will also provide a $750 supply budget to seniors with a job commitment after graduation.
“We have produced excellent STEM teachers from our programs, and this is a way that we can produce even more,” Turner said. “If we can get more people out there teaching science, that’s going to be good for our community, it’ll be good for Texas, and it’ll be good for wherever we’re going to go in the future.”