The Officers and Directors of the James S. McDonnell Foundation today announced more than $15 million in grants in their ongoing program, the 21st Century Science Initiative.
Founded in 1950 by the late aerospace pioneer and founder of what would become the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, James S. McDonnell believed that science and technology gives mankind the power to shape knowledge for the future while improving our lives. “Mr. Mac’s” vision continues to be realized through the research these grants are supporting. Since the inception of the program in 2000, more than $340 million in funding has been awarded.
The 21st Century Science Initiative funds research in three program areas. The Understanding Teacher Change and Teachers as Learners in K-12 Classrooms program provides funding to multi-disciplinary team research committed to improving our understanding of teachers learning to communicate in the classroom. The JSMF Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards in Understanding Dynamic & Multi-scale Systems provides students completing doctoral training an opportunity to broaden their research experience and acquire additional skills. The Special Initiative program supports projects closely related to existing programmatic interests that allow JSMF to pursue unusual opportunities.
“The foundation continues to fulfill James S. McDonnell’s vision of serving society by supporting the quest for new knowledge and its responsible application,” noted President Susan M. Fitzpatrick. “These new grants are pushing forward the Foundation’s agenda to improve education and to continually hone the ability of science to contribute solutions to important complex problems.”
In other news, the Foundation welcomes Sarah Paterson, Ph.D. as a new Program Officer. Sarah earned her Ph.D. in psychology from University College London, and as Program Officer she will be supporting the Teachers as Learners and Understanding Human Cognition programs. Additionally, JSMF has promoted leadership from within naming M. Brent Dolezalek to Vice President of Operations and Brian Knox to Grants Manager.
In 2020, the James S. McDonnell Foundation Board of Directors approved:
Teachers as Learners: Understanding Human Cognition
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Development of Novice Teachers’ Role-Identities as Discussion Facilitators in Social Studies Classrooms
Project Lead: Abby Reisman (University of Pennsylvania) Co-Project Lead: Tim Patterson (Temple), $2,464,087 over five years
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Teachers as Learners – Teachers as Thinkers: Improving Classroom Communication in Mathematics
Project Lead: Nicole Kersting, $2,500,000 over five years
University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
Developing a model of teacher learning to support computationally rich communication in science classrooms
Project Lead: Tamara Sumner, $2,499,702 over five years
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Facilitating Digital Discourse: Teachers as Learners in a Digital Age
Project Lead: Amy Stornaiuolo, $2,499,399 over five years
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Preparing Teachers to Facilitate Asset-based Science & Literacy Discourse in Dual and Multilingual Elementary Classrooms
Project Lead: Jessica Thompson, $2,496,461 over five years
In other actions in 2019, the James S. McDonnell Foundation Board of Directors approved:
Collaborative Activity Awards: Understanding Human Cognition
Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
From Defensive Responses to Clinical Interventions: Understanding the Mechanisms of Anxiety Phase 2
Project Manager: Stefan Hofmann, $406,240 over two years
Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards: Understanding Dynamic and Multi-scale Systems
Romain Frelat, Wageningen University, Netherlands
Katelyn Gostic, University of Chicago
Marysa Laguë, University of California – Berkeley
Laura Maiorino, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Haripriya Vaidehi Narayanan, University of California – Los Angeles
Marco Pangallo, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy
Predrag Popovic, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
Handuo Shi, Stanford University School of Medicine
Felix Wong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Katherine Xue, Stanford University
Special Initiatives
University of Missouri – Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
Support to Establish a Postdoctoral Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (MOST)
Project Manager: Rachel Owen, $558,000 over four years
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