“Power failures can lead to great economic loss and greatly impact on our daily lives,” said Chen, who was awarded the grant last December. “My goal is to improve people’s lives by ensuring the security and resiliency of our energy system.” 

Electric power systems are a critical component of society that provide power to our homes, businesses, and devices. But when they fail, they can have devastating consequences, said Chen. Disastrous events have previously shut down the electric grid and left millions of people without power, including the 2019 Manhattan blackout and the 2021 Texas power crisis.  

Thanks to advances in technology, many electric power systems now use energy devices that can be controlled remotely through smartphone apps and other Internet-based devices. These devices, known as Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled energy devices, can be found in solar panels, wind generation systems, and electric vehicles, said Chen. They can also be found in commonly used household appliances like air conditioners, water heaters, and electric ovens. 

A Weakness with Potentially Devastating Consequences

The original goal of using IoT-enabled energy devices was to improve operational performance through greater reliability and sustainability, said Chen. However, he said that these devices are weak in one critical area—cybersecurity.  

“IoT-enabled energy devices are easy to hack because they are not built with a high level of security. These devices have limited capabilities, and they are incapable of running sophisticated encryption and authentication mechanisms, which our computers have,” Chen said. “These devices are also often operated under factory settings with a default password, so it can be relatively easy to hack them.” 

Hackers can compromise devices in a coordinated manner, said Chen. The attacker first gains control of a group of IoT-enabled energy devices and then forms an IoT botnet—a network of infected devices that can launch a large-scale attack and disrupt the normal operations of an entire power energy system. 

“This can disrupt the supply-and-demand chain of energy suppliers and consumers. It can also create a power surge that makes our electric grid more unstable and potentially lead to a power failure that causes economic loss and human injury,” Chen said. “The cyberattack initially leads to a local power failure. An energy supplier will try to restore the power, but the power failure could propagate and lead to a major blackout due to the highly complex and dynamic nature of grid operations.”

Increasing Protection in the Field and at Home 

In a two-year-long project, Chen and his team of graduate and undergraduate students will conduct a comprehensive study of modern electric power systems, analyze the behavior of potential hackers, and develop defensive strategies to protect the power systems from cyberattacks. Their overarching goal is to create cost-effective mechanisms to improve the security and resiliency of electric power systems under IoT botnet attacks. Collectively, these mechanisms can serve as a guide for grid operators who are responsible for protecting the electrical power system, said Chen. 

Right now, everyday people can protect their personal IoT devices from cyberattacks by taking one simple step—changing their devices’ default passwords, said Chen. 

“Many people ignore this step and leave their devices in a very vulnerable situation. An attacker can guess their passwords very easily and have complete control over their devices,” Chen said. “We also need to regularly patch and update the software systems on our devices, just like we do with our smartphones.” 

Chen said that his team’s research results will be integrated into a new course at Fordham called Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity. The course, which will provide students with cross-disciplinary training in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and informatics, will potentially be offered in 2023. 

“What excites me most is the nature of this project,” said Chen. “This is a societal problem that will potentially have a lot of impact on our daily lives.”

“Programs like ASPIRES are game changers,” said Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “Through this type of support, women—and others who are underrepresented in STEM—see themselves as belonging, see themselves as mathematicians and scientists, and see themselves as successful.”

Through the NSF-funded University program, first-year students receive annual scholarships, which range from $1,000 to $10,000, for their four years at Fordham; guidance in and out of the lab; and funding for their undergraduate research. Scholarships for their first year of study are funded by NSF; the remaining three years, the scholarships are funded by Fordham. In total, the grant will sponsor four student cohorts. The first will serve as mentors to incoming scholars. 

Last fall, the University was awarded $1 million to be granted over five years for ASPIRES, which stands for Achievement in STEM through a Program of Immersive Research Experience and Support. Awarded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, the grant is intended to help increase the number of college students pursuing careers in STEM, especially those who come from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the field.

“In the analysis that was done for the grant, a disproportionate number of Fordham STEM majors or students intending to pursue a STEM major leave STEM or don’t go on to STEM fields,” said Robert H. Beer, Ph.D., associate dean for STEM and pre-health education at Fordham College at Rose Hill. “The idea behind the grant was that if we put this program in place freshman year, students that might be at the risk of leaving a STEM field or major would stay.” 

To qualify for the program, students must indicate an interest in a STEM major on their college applications, demonstrate strong academic performance in high school, and show financial need. 

“This is really early exposure and access to faculty, research, and the idea of research,” said Christie-Belle Garcia, assistant dean for student support and success. “The way the program is set up is to give them an upper hand in being able to access these [resources].” 

Early Exposure to Lab Life

ASPIRES not only pays for part of students’ tuition, but also funds their future research projects, offers a year-long research seminar that shows students how to create their own research projects, and hosts a six-day Summer Bridge Program that introduces students to the campus before the semester starts. 

From Aug. 18 to 23, this year’s ASPIRES students explored the Rose Hill campus and toured the chemistry, biology, and physics departments. They saw several lab experiments performed by professors and student research assistants, ranging in subject from crystals to cell mitosis to electrons. The students were also treated to meals in Manhattan and the Bronx, as well as activities like zip lining at the Bronx Zoo and navigating an escape room in the city. 

“In the first week of the students being here, they were exposed to faculty in a small group setting,” Garcia said. “Throughout the course of the year, the goal is to provide them with the necessary skills to be able to participate in research by the end of their first year of college.” 

The First Cohort

Twelve undergraduates were selected from approximately 400 candidates, said Beer. 

One student, Sonola Burjja, is originally from Europe. As a high school student in Albania, she said she placed among the top three students in several biology state olympiads. But it wasn’t until she moved to the U.S. in her senior year of high school that she was able to conduct complex science experiments in her classes. 

“In Albania, we didn’t have much research or opportunity,” said Burrja, a biology major on the pre-med track. “[At Fordham] I’ve already scheduled an appointment with one of the deans involved in research to talk about different opportunities. I’d like to do something that is related to people’s lives … to the medical field.” 

Most of the ASPIRES students live on campus. But a few students commute from the Bronx, like Dogunhe Trawally, who rides the Bx15 to the Rose Hill campus several times a week. He said he’s taking five courses this semester: one in English composition, one in Islamic history, one in sociology, and two in computer science. 

“Technology is this evolving theme that’s part of our lives,” said Trawally, a computer science major. “So I thought, what other way to make a change in the world than to do something that people are already into, that has changed so many lives?” 

Another ASPIRES student, Ora Kalaj, said she’s fascinated by the chemical makeup of cosmetic products. Last summer, she interned at a French skincare company called Biologique Recherche, where she not only learned about the marketing side of the business but also the technical side. 

“There was a seminar where the executives of the company came to talk to the estheticians-in-training about the chemical makeup of the products,” said Kalaj, adding that the experience helped narrow her interest in the field of chemistry. 

In the future, she said she envisions herself as a chemist or chemical engineer. But for now, Kalaj—a chemistry major from Eastchester, New York—is concentrating on the next four years. 

“I’m really excited to participate in scientific research because I never did anything like that in high school,” she said. “I’m excited to work with people who are as passionate as I am.” 

The students were selected from more than 350 applicants to join the first cohort of Project TRUE (Teens Researching Urban Ecology), a collaboration between Fordham and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The project aims to grow interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers among historically underrepresented populations.

The program is part of a five-year study led by Fordham and WCS to test the effectiveness of tiered mentoring in helping students get accepted into college and find careers in STEM fields. The study, which is funded by a $2.6 million National Science Foundation grant, connects New York City high school students with Fordham biologists, graduate and undergraduate students, and WCS educators.

If successful, the program could ultimately be scaled up and implemented nationwide, said Amy Tuininga, PhD, Fordham’s principal investigator for Project TRUE.

“Mentoring gives you the power to offer real research experience to a greater number of students,” said Tuininga, an associate professor of biology. “I couldn’t mentor all of these students in my lab, but I could mentor one or two graduate students, who then go on to mentor more students.”

Students conducted research at four New York City zoos—Bronx Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and Central Park Zoo. Each of the four teams included a Fordham graduate student and a WCS instructor as the project leaders; four undergraduate students; and between eight and 12 high school students.

One of the more striking outcomes of having a tiered mentorship structure, said WCS instructor Lily Mleczko, was how effectively the students communicated with one another, despite differences in age and education.

“I graduated from high school 13 years ago, so I’m a lot farther removed from that experience than the undergraduates. They were an essential step to simplifying and explaining scientific concepts and research methods to the high school students,” Mleczko said.

“And it didn’t stop at the science—the undergraduates would talk to them about what it’s like to be in college and about different resources at Fordham, like the CSTEP program.”

That mentoring relationship is, in fact, at the crux of Project TRUE, said Karen Tingley, director of Zoo and Aquarium Programs and Business Development for the WCS Education Department.

“The undergraduate students are an important part of the equation. Rather than having someone at the ripe old age of 30 mentoring the high school students, they have the undergrads to look at and think, ‘This person is 19 years old and is doing all of this. I can do this too,’” Tingley said.

The mentorship doesn’t stop after the research ends, however. The students will reconvene in the fall for a two-day college boot camp that offers instruction and guidance on the college application process. Over the next four years, the team will maintain contact with the students, both to inform them of internships and research opportunities and to measure their progress in college.

If successful, Project TRUE will have helped 200 New York City high school students gain entrance to the STEM fields by the end of the five-year study.

“The goal is for them to see that there’s a world of career opportunities out there and that these opportunities are for them, too—not just others,” Tingley said. “That’s why we wanted to have the program happen in this space—at Fordham—so that they can see that they, too, belong here in college.

“It’s a matter of showing them that there are opportunities out there for them, and their opinions and their voices matter.”

Mosquitoes, chipmunks, and sunfish found their way to the William D. Walsh Library on Aug. 14, when students from the Louis Calder Center’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program (CSUR) presented their research at the program’s 16th annual symposium. While actual species might not have flown, scurried, or swum onto the fourth floor Special Collections Room, the young scientists brought them to life through research.

The program, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), offers paid opportunities for undergraduates from various colleges to research a variety of biological field studies. For many of the students, the highly selective CSUR represents a practical step toward a career in the field. A keynote address delivered via teleconference from NSF Program Director Pushpa Murthy, Ph.D. pointed students toward the next step, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which Murthy described as “very well regarded by the community.”

Following Murthy’s lecture, Sabrina Ferrara of Stonehill College discussed ovitrap systems used to attract mosquitoes for research. Taking a whimsical approach, Ferrara’s research topic was titled, Project Mosquito Runway: Which Ovitrap Will Win? Treating three mosquito species as judges, Ferrara set out to analyze what types of ovitrap designs and materials most attracted the mosquitoes to lay their eggs.

Of the three ovitraps Ferrara analyzed, two used small swatches placed in a liquid-filled container; one was made of flat wood, the other was made of pink velour. Another container was lined with germination paper, not unlike a coffee filter, and covered more surface. In the end analysis, the germination paper won, as more surface catches more critters. But Ferrara said that velour made a strong showing, despite its design. In true Runway fashion, she suggested the study test a variety of colors for the velour as well.

Ferrara was careful to frame her study in the fact that each of the mosquito species is a carrier of diseases that harm humans. Ferrara’s talk echoed a point stressed by Murthy on advising students of criteria in applying for federally funded fellowships.

“Imagine your uncle who has no scientific background in science saying, ‘Why should my tax dollars go to support you,'” said Murtha. “You must show how you will share your project with society.”

To that end, the 10 CSUR students were taking initial steps to present scientific data to the public.

Diana Morales, a Macaulay Honors student at CUNY Lehman College, said that as a Sleepy Hollow High School student she became familiar with the Calder Center and the mentorship of Fordham Professor John Wehr, Ph.D.  Though she had already been studying at Calder through a variety of high school programs, the CSUR allowed her to come back as an undergrad. She said that studying at the nature-bound location seeps into the approach to learning.

“They [mentors]want you to grow and be your own boss,” said Morales. “They will guide you, but you pick your own path.”

Evan Miller, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., knew of Calder because his dad is the campus veterinarian. His presentation was on the ecological factors that influence the nesting of sunfish. He said that learning science in the natural environment of Calder is unique.

“I prefer being outdoors than in the lab,” he said, adding that his project required him to fish—something he also does for recreation.

But for Chaitoo, winning the prestigious fellowship to pursue her studies of persons with disabilities is much more than an academic triumph.

“I was diagnosed with a severe-to-profound hearing loss when I was about 5 years old, and at the time, my audiologists relied on the latest medical studies to determine that I would probably never graduate high school,” said the Brooklyn native.

“Ultimately, my parents knew better and saw to it that I had all the accommodations necessary to offset my hearing loss, which allowed me to be as successful as I am today.”

A Matteo Ricci scholar and a member of the Hearing Loss Association of America’s New York Board of Trustees, Chaitoo graduates May 18 with a double-major in economics and political science. Her NSF fellowship will fully fund her graduate education at Carnegie Mellon University, where she will begin a master’s of science in public policy and management this fall.

These prestigious fellowships are awarded annually to foster scientific research and support outstanding graduate students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with $12,000 in education allowance toward the graduation institution of their choice. The allowance funds fellows’ tuition and fees, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research.

Chaitoo will continue research she began at Fordham on the economic wellbeing of persons with disabilities in the United States, particularly the indirect as well as direct medical costs of persons with disabilities—a topic in which she has been personally invested.

“When I first came to Fordham, I was told that accommodations are awarded based on the student’s potential contribution to the school. Thus, I had to secure independent funding for CART captioning [Communication Access Realtime Translation] from the NYS Department of Education to maximize my potential,” she said. “But, in the process, I went without very much needed assistance during my freshman year.”

The experience inspired Chaitoo to study whether disabilities are indeed linked with financial hardship. In a study on disability and multidimensional poverty in the United States that she co-authored with Sophie Mitra, Ph.D., associate professor of economics, Debra Brucker, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, and Joseph Mauro, a graduate research assistant in the Economics Department, Chaitoo found that persons with disabilities are more likely to be poor, regardless of the measures used to assess their poverty level.

“I wanted to see if the disparities I observed on a micro-level manifested themselves at a macro-level, and if so, I wanted to start working on solutions,” she said.

Since its creation in 1952, the highly competitive NSF graduate fellowship has been awarded to less than 9 percent of more than 500,000 applicants. This year, the NSF received 13,000 applications for 2,000 awards.

“Navena’s NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is a tremendous accomplishment—a reflection of her steadfast dedication and commitment,” said Michael Latham, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “It also demonstrates what Fordham’s talented students can achieve with the support of the outstanding teachers and scholars on our faculty. We are very proud of Navena, and wish her all the best as she begins her graduate career.”

A team of four Fordham professors has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to fund the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program. The program is designed to attract and encourage talented undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and professionals to become teachers of secondary mathematics in high-need public schools.

The team includes the principal investigator, Usha Kotelawala, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics education at the Fordham University Graduate School of Education (GSE); and co-principal investigators Robert Graham, Ed.D., clinical associate professor of education, GSE; Melkana Brakalova-Trevithick, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics and chair of the Department of Mathematics at Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH); and Janusz Golec, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, FCRH.

The NSF Noyce Scholarship Program will enable the Graduate School of Education, in collaboration with the mathematics department at Fordham College at Rose Hill and the New York City Public Schools under the Fordham Partnership Support Organization (PSO), to increase its impact in training, induction, and support of new teachers in high-need public schools in the New York City metropolitan area. The Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program will further expand the partnership between the GSE and Fordham’s mathematics department.

The five-year grant, totaling more than $1 million, provides funds for three cohorts of six graduate students each to pursue a Master of Science in Teaching degree at GSE and to teach middle and high school mathematics. Each cohort will take classes over a period of two years, including 12 courses at GSE and two courses in the mathematics department. The students will be trained through a clinically rich, field-based teacher training program that uses a model of the Japanese lesson-study practice adapted for teacher education in the New York City Public Schools, and which was developed by the principal investigator Usha Kotelawala.

“This intensive and structured approach to planning lessons involves collaborative planning, observed presentation of the lesson to actual classes of students, and revision of the lesson based on the observers’ critique and the teachers’ own perceptions of the lesson’s strengths and weaknesses,” said Kotelawala.

Upon graduating, the Noyce scholars will be obligated to teach in high-need schools for at least four years. During the first two years, the scholars will participate in continuing lesson studies and additional workshops.

“Noyce scholars continue to interact with the program during their difficult first two years of teaching, helping them to remain in the classroom despite conditions that drive many teachers away from the profession,” Kotelawala said.

“High-need schools struggle in retaining strong mathematics teachers. The pressures and struggles that teachers face—especially during their first two years—are great. Collaboration with peers can lead to both support for teachers and better teaching.

“Overall, this program can become a model for teacher preparation while serving the broader need of providing qualified teachers with high mastery of their content to the high-need classrooms of New York City,” Kotelawala said.

Stacey Barnaby, FCRH ’11, Julianne Troiano, FCRH ’11, and current senior Rebecca Triano recently won National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. These prestigious fellowships are awarded annually to foster scientific research and support outstanding graduate students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Fellows are awarded a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with $10,500 in education allowance toward the graduation institution of their choice. The allowance funds fellows’ tuition and fees, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research.

Since its creation in 1952, the highly competitive fellowship has been awarded to less than 9 percent of more than 500,000 applicants.

“The fellowship award is based on intellectual merit, but also the broader impact of your research,” said Triano, a chemistry major. “They place emphasis on what you can do beyond the scientific community.”

For Triano, that broader impact is targeted toward helping the environment. As part of her application, Triano submitted a research proposal that combined research she conducted at Fordham and the University of California, Berkeley. Working with Amy Balija, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, Triano performed organic synthesis research on molecules that remove pollutants from water. Her research at UC Berkeley, meanwhile, focused on developing certain catalysts that help to convert methane into usable energy.

In her application, Triano proposed to use the molecules she develops in Balija’s lab to transform methane.

“For three students to win this prestigious award from the same, small undergraduate department in a single year is truly remarkable,” said Michael Latham, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “It also speaks to the great generosity of our faculty in supporting students in undergraduate research.”

Both Barnaby and Troiano are currently pursuing their doctorate degrees at Northwestern University. Barnaby primarily researches macromolecular, supramolecular, and nanochemistry, while Troiano researches sustainable chemistry.

Triano will begin a doctoral program in organic chemistry at UC Berkeley in the fall.

Thanks to a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), 11 undergraduates spent their summer doing original conservation biology and environmental policy-related research at Fordham’s 113-acre Calder Center Biological Field Station.

The students were part of the 2011 Calder Summer Undergraduate Research Program (CSUR), an NSF program designed to offer research experience to undergraduates regardless of their financial means.

On Aug. 17, the students presented their original research projects at a symposium on the Rose Hill campus.

“These students are well on their way to becoming professional scientists,” said John Wehr, Ph.D., director of the Calder Center and co-director of CSUR. “We hope this program has been an important stepping stone for them.”

For Rachel Coffey, a Fordham College at Rose Hill junior, doing a project on the hybridization of two types of sunfish found in the Calder Lake was definitely galvanizing. The biology major spent the summer snorkeling in the lake to observe the behaviors of the Redbreast Sunfish and the Pumpkinseed Sunfish, whose breeding seasons overlap. She extracted DNA samples from each of the fish breeds and from the eggs they were guarding, to compare their genetic makeup for signs of cross-breeding.

“It was my first laboratory experience,” Coffey said, “and now I appreciate this kind of work a lot more.”

Shampa Panda, a junior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said her project studying the causes of algae blooms in nearby North Lake cemented her interest in being a scientist.

“I got to collect all of my own data and to interpret it,” Panda said. “Even though I had two professional mentors, I felt I had real ownership of the project. It was a phenomenal opportunity.”

The 12-week, intensive research program helped students learn the fundamentals of experimental design, how to collect data and analyze it, and how to prepare and deliver an oral presentation of their findings.

This year’s symposium, Wehr said, was unique in that Fordham collaborated more with its research partners, including the New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG) and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Coffey said she even received funding from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, which enabled her to use the American Museum of Natural History’s DNA analyzer to parse her genetic data on the two sunfishes she studied.

“Our collaborations have deepened the program and improved the quality of work and opportunities that our students have,” Wehr said.

More than 100 students from all over the country applied to participate in the highly selective program, in which they are given housing and paid to conduct research under the mentorship of Fordham faculty and biological science professionals.

Other student projects included a comparison of genetic biodiversity between the NYBG, Calder and Black Rock Forest, a study of the feeding ecology of biting and sucking Darter fishes, and an analysis of the optimum square footage for accurately counting ticks in a wooded area.

Evon Hekkala, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, gave a keynote talk focusing on her recent collaborative research studying the genetic makeup of certain extinct species. Like the summer projects, Hekkala said that all of her research has been collaborative.

“Science is never done by one individual,” she said.

Though the efforts of the pixilated plumber were not discussed at the “Screen 2 Screen” conference that concluded on Oct. 10 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, the connections between gaming and learning were explored in depth.

The National Science Foundation sponsored the four-day gathering.

Conference organizer Fran Blumberg, Ph.D., associate professor in the division of psychological and educational services in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), said the event formed the basis of a new interdisciplinary collaboration to investigate children and adolescent learning via digital games and new media technologies.

At the first panel on Oct. 7, James Bachhuber, a research associate at the Center for Children and Technology, explained the concept of a game featuring “Biobot Bob,” a half-plant, half-robot who can survive on photosynthesis.

“He can make different molecules and reconstitute different molecules, so if you want to get a jet boost, you have to make methanol. If you want to make tear gas to fight vampires, you need to break apart the methanol and then combine it into tear gas, which uses the same atoms,” he said.

“We don’t think students are going to come out with an understanding of how plants work, but when they go into the classroom, the teacher can build on their experience playing the game,” he said. “When students start learning about photosynthesis, teachers can say, ‘Remember in the game when this happened?’”

The idea of using games in tandem with—not in place of—traditional teaching came up often. John Black, Ph.D., the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Telecommunications and Education at Columbia, detailed a study of self-described experts of the video games Civilization and Sim City. The Civilization players, when quizzed on a historical reading about trading between empires, fared much better then the Sim City players.

He recommends to schools that if they’re discussing world history, teachers should have them play Civilization during the summer leading up to the class, he said.

“A good use for video games is to provide a series of perceptually grounded experiences that actually grapple with and experience the phenomenon that students are going to learn about,” he said. “You don’t seem to learn that much unless you also add more formal activities of having background readings and relating it to your experiences.”

Nicholas Fortugno, chief creative officer and co-founder of the game development studio Playmatics, used a free Web game, Wake Up Robot, which Playmatics created, to demonstrate how gaming and learning are not separate.

“What is a player doing? Well, a player is introduced to a system. The player experiments in the system. The player sees results from that experimentation. The player creates a hypothesis about what movement and jumping and grappling is in the system. The system is presented with new experimental conditions. The player tests their hypotheses against those experimental conditions. The player revises those hypotheses against new experimental conditions, and eventually establishes a more firm hypothesis about how those work, which is constantly evolving throughout the game,” he said.

“I look at that, and I say, this is the scientific method in action. It’s used in something that’s totally artificial and relatively meaningless to life and career success at the level of the context of the experience, but the experience of learning is very direct and it relates exactly to things that we do use for those kinds of purposes.”

To get a sense of how a school looks when it is fully embraced technology, Katie Salen, professor of media design in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design, told attendees that one aspect of gaming their “Institute of Play” has incorporated into its classes is the sharing of data.

“When you begin to look at games for 10-year-olds and older, the data displays that players use to play a game are incredibly complex,” she said. “Often you don’t even see the virtual world that they’re a part of; all you see is an inner case of data, and players are literally reading data as a way to play that game. That’s a really powerful thing.”

Awarded by the National Science Foundation, the money will go to the Fordham University/Wildlife Conservation Society Science Teacher Noyce Scholarship Program.

“We are, of course, gratified that Fordham carried off this highly competitive National Science Foundation grant,” said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “Both our Graduate School of Education (GSE) and biological sciences faculties are first rate, and our collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is well designed and well executed.”

The program will be directed by John Craven, Ph.D., associate professor of education; Deborah Luckett, Ph.D., lecturer in biology; Grace M. Vernon, Ph.D., professor of biology; and Jenell Ives, director of professional development at the Bronx Zoo. Luckett and Vernon are with the Department of Natural Sciences, which is collaborating with GSE and WCS on the program.

Craven, the principal investigator, said he has been eyeing the grant for quite some time.

“It’s something that is overdue at Fordham, given its well-regarded status in teacher education,” he said.

“When you add the University’s connections to schools and partnership with the WCS, this program represents groundbreaking approaches that have been long called for in teacher education,” he added.

The grant will allow 35 science majors and professionals who hold degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to receive $9,000 annually for tuition, a $1,350 stipend for a summer internship and a mentor for the duration of the five-year program.

Undergraduates will be eligible for up to three years of support beginning in their junior years. Noyce Scholars who already possess a degree in one of the STEM disciplines will receive one year or more of support to complete a master of science teaching degree. Degree holders must not have expressed intent to enter the teaching profession prior to their application to the scholarship program.

GSE began offering a joint program leading to a master of science degree in education and New York state initial teacher certification in adolescent science education in September 2008, thanks to a unique partnership between Fordham and the WCS.

Noyce Scholars must commit to teaching science in a high-needs school for two years for every year of funding they receive.

“This is big, being that it comes from the National Science Foundation,” said James Hennessy, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Education. “It is one of the largest grants the school has received and it recognizes the great work my colleagues have done in putting this together.”

Though the efforts of the pixilated plumber were not discussed at the “Screen 2 Screen” conference that concluded on Oct. 10 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, the connections between gaming and learning were explored in depth.

The four-day gathering was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Conference organizer Fran Blumberg, Ph.D., associate professor in the division of of psychological and educational services in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), said the event would form the basis of a new interdisciplinary collaboration to investigate children and adolescent learning via digital games and new media technologies.

At the first panel on Oct. 7, James Bachhuber, a research associate at the Center for Children and Technology, explained the concept of a game featuring “Biobot Bob,” a half-plant, half-robot who can survive on photosynthesis.

“He can make different molecules and reconstitute different molecules, so if you want to get a jet boost, you have to make methanol. If you want to make tear gas to fight vampires, you need to break apart the methanol and then combine it into tear gas, which uses the same atoms,” he said.

“We don’t think students are going to come out with an understanding of how plants work, but when they go into the classroom, the teacher can build on their experience playing the game,” he said. “When students start learning about photosynthesis, teachers can say, ‘Remember in the game when this happened?’”

The idea of using games in tandem with—not in place of—traditional teaching came up often. John Black, Ph.D., the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Telecommunications and Education at Columbia, detailed a study of self-described experts of the video games Civilization and Sim City. The former, when quizzed on a historical reading about trading between empires, fared much better then the latter.

He said he recommends to schools that if they’re discussing world history, teachers should have them play Civilization during the summer leading up to the class.

“A good use for video games is to provide a series of perceptually grounded experiences that actually grapple with and experience the phenomenon that students are going to learn about,” he said. “You don’t seem to learn that much unless you also add more formal activities of having background readings and relating it to your experiences.”

Nicholas Fortugno, chief creative officer and co-founder of the game development studio Playmatics, used a free web game, Wake Up Robot, which Playmatics created, to demonstrate how gaming and learning are not separate.

“What is a player doing? Well, a player is introduced to a system. The player experiments in the system. The player sees results from that experimentation. The player creates a hypothesis about what movement and jumping and grappling is in the system. The system is presented with new experimental conditions. The player tests their hypotheses against those experimental conditions. The player revises those hypotheses against new experimental conditions, and eventually establishes a more firm hypothesis about how those work, which is constantly evolving throughout the game,” he said.

“I look at that, and I say, this is the scientific method in action. It’s used in something that’s totally artificial and relatively meaningless to life and career success at the level of the context of the experience, but the experience of learning is very direct and it relates exactly to things that we do use for those kinds of purposes.”

To get a sense of what a school looks when it is fully embraced technology, Katie Salen, professor of media design in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons the New School for Design, told attendees that one aspect of gaming their “Institute of Play” has incorporated into its classes is the sharing of data.

“When you begin to look at games for 10-year-olds and older, the data displays that players use to play a game are incredibly complex,” she said. “Often you don’t even see the virtual world that they’re a part of; all you see is an inner case of data, and players are literally reading data as a way to play that game. That’s a really powerful thing.”