Portfolio of HSI Grants at NLU

Project CREST

Project CREST, a HSI STEM Cooperative Grant, focuses on enhanced recruitment of the underrepresented Hispanic, Latinx, and Student of Color population into Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) and Computer Information Sciences (CIS) programs. This grant aligns with the goals of NLU as an institution.

Robyn Moncrief, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Department Chair of the Computer Science and Information Systems Program                                                                                                           Email: rmoncrief@nl.edu 

Inés Sahagun Bahena, Ph.D, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Director of the Centro de Excelencia  Email: isahagunbahena@nl.edu 

Grant Highlights:

5th Annual CSIS Symposium 

Highlight video of symposium: https://youtu.be/Z8GAaxrNQTc                                                                   

Girls Who Code Camp

Clarity and Community for STEM Success (Project C2S2)

Project Clarity and Community for STEM Success (Project C2S2) partners National Louis University with two community college partners, Morton Community College and Black Hawk Community College, as part of a US Department of Education HSI and Articulation program. This project takes an asset-based view of Hispanic undergraduates in STEM and uses innovative strategies to increase transfer, retention, and graduation in computer science programs. In its design, C2S2 builds on an existing undergraduate Computer Sciences and Information Systems (CSIS) program that has strong supports and structures for traditionally underserved students and integrates the support and expertise of two community college (CC) collaborators, Morton College and Black Hawk College.

Robyn Moncrief, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Department Chair of the Computer Science and Information Systems Program                                                                                                           Email: rmoncrief@nl.edu 

Inés Sahagun Bahena, Ph.D, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Director of the Centro de Excelencia  Email: isahagunbahena@nl.edu 

Grant Highlights:

CSIS Class of 2022 Graduation Party and Cord Distribution

NSF Project SCALE

NSF Project SCALE is a STEM grant which focuses on four goals:

• Goal 1: 85% of students successfully complete a professional internship.
• Goal 2: 80% students report strong connections to and support from the NLU CSIS community. 
• Goal 3: Increase institutional and research knowledge base on how to increase academic agency for historically underserviced students 
• Goal 4: CSIS students reach goal of 80% retention and 70% graduation, and 85% of employment in industry within six months of graduation

Robyn Moncrief, Co-Principle Investigator,

Ines, Co-Principle Investigator

Robyn Moncrief, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Department Chair of the Computer Science and Information Systems Program                                                                                                           Email: rmoncrief@nl.edu 

Inés Sahagun Bahena, Ph.D, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Director of the Centro de Excelencia  Email: isahagunbahena@nl.edu 

Promoting Post baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) 

The primary graduate student initiative is to increase retention and graduation of Latinx graduate students. This work is supported by the Promoting Post baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) program, a grant from the Hispanic Serving Institutions Division of the Department of Education and Comunidades Latinas Académicas con Visión de Éxito (CLAVE).

Inés Sahagun Bahena, Ph.D, Co-Principle Investigator (PI), Director of the Centro de Excelencia  Email: isahagunbahena@nl.edu 

For more information about the PPOHA grant, please visit https://nl.edu/centro-de-excelencia-at-nlu/graduate-students/

DHSI Undergraduate Teacher Pipeline: A Community-Centered Approach to Improving Teacher Preparation for Hispanic Students

DHSI Undergraduate Teacher Pipeline: A Community-Centered Approach to Improving Teacher Preparation for Hispanic Students focuses on three goals:

• Goal 1: Develop and implement community-based teacher preparation model to increase number of Hispanic students entering the field of teaching with specialized endorsements
• Goal 2: Develop systems and capacity to create and maintain effective partnerships for field-based teacher preparation and pathways to graduate degrees in education
• Goal 3: Strengthen culturally-relevant academic and financial literacy supports to increase Hispanic student graduate and persistence rates

Principle Investigator (PI), TBD