Dean Elisabeth Wade and Dr. Sara Kassis from Sonoma State University were recently awarded a National Science Foundation I-USE HSI grant (Award # 2126711) in collaboration with colleagues from CSU Fresno, San Jose State University, Fresno City College, and the CSU Chancellor's Office. The project will focus on applying and assessing active learning with extended reality (XR) technologies to improve learning outcomes and narrow achievement gaps for underrepresented minority (URM) students in introductory STEM "gateway" courses. Dr. Kassis, an adjunct faculty member in the Departments of Engineering and Physics & Astronomy, will take the lead on the project at SSU and will contribute to the team with her expertise in creating and leading XR trainings and activities, researching XR's efficacy in STEM education, and extensive XR hardware/software development.
