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Salem State Receives National Science Foundation Grant Award Funded Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

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September 17, 2009, Salem, Mass. -- Salem State College is the recent recipient of a grant in the amount of $299,733 from the National Science Foundation. The grant award, which is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, identifies Salem State as the lead partner in "The Atlantic Partnership for the Biological Sciences" project. Core partners are the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao; the Puerto Rico Department of Education; TERC, a non-profit education research and development organization; the International Center for Research and Education; and the Salem public schools. The project's goal is to transform the way life sciences are taught in select school districts within Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Approximately seventeen school districts will be involved.



Dr. Lisa J. Delissio, associate professor of biology at Salem State, is the primary investigator, and will partner with the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao, Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Department of Education, and Salem public schools to develop collaborative partnerships in lab and field-based science programs. Dr. Delissio already has a familiarity with Puerto Rico as a result of her research on the impact of climate change on the tropical dry forest on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico.



According to Delissio, "The partnership plans to work with public schools in eastern Massachusetts and eastern Puerto Rico to create a professional development program for middle- and high school teachers." The aim, she adds, is "to strengthen the teaching of life sciences with a focus on the needs of Latino students."



The award runs from September 1, 2009 through August 31, 2011.



Salem State, established in 1854 as Salem Normal School, is a comprehensive, publicly supported institution of higher learning located approximately 15 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. The college enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 27 states and 65 nations, and is one of the largest state colleges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.