Supporting Structures

The CCCU and SCIO have received a $2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, with a further $256,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, to launch Supporting Structures: Innovative Collaborations to Enhance STEM Research at CCCU Member Institutions, a project designed to support and enhance STEM research among faculty and students on CCCU campuses.

Scio Oxford University Museum Of Natural History Entrance Cropped

Supporting people and institutions

This multi-faceted project incorporates training, support, and events for faculty members, students, senior administrators, and the communities that feed into and support these institutions.

It expands research opportunities among existing, pre-tenure faculty members in the STEM fields and offers training to deepen their understanding of and engagement with issues pertaining to science, religion, and society.

Additionally, the project has a specific fund dedicated to help participating campuses enhance diversity among their STEM faculty.

Supporting collaboration

The project will bolster unique partnerships between CCCU institutions and major research institutions, with CCCU faculty members undertaking research projects in research laboratories at R1 universities or comparable institutions.

The project also provides funding for campuses to establish student clubs and support undergraduate student researchers in STEM fields, as well as provide opportunities for administrators and other campus-connected communities to engage science, religion, and society issues.

Matthew Walhout Vice President Natural Sciences John Templeton Foundation
With this new CCCU project, the John Templeton Foundation encourages faith-based institutions of higher-education to contribute to the vitality of mainstream scientific research, and to invite faculty and students to embrace scientific questioning and discovery as valuable activities for religious communities, and indeed for humanity as a whole.
Matthew Walhout, vice president, natural sciences, at the John Templeton Foundation
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