Eastern receives grant for STEM diversity
CHENEY — Eastern Washington University has received a $975,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help attract and keep more diverse faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
The three-year grant will fund a new project called “Utilizing Practices to Leverage Institutional & Intersectional Formative Transformation,” or UPLIIFT. The project is led by Edwin Elias, an associate professor of Chicana/o/x studies at EWU
Elias said the grant will allow his team to find better ways to recruit and support faculty members who are often underrepresented in STEM fields.
“All faculty face challenges in higher education today,” Elias said. “But historically marginalized groups often face more severe challenges, depending on their discipline. This grant will help us find solutions that make our workplace more fair and equal.”
The project will take an intersectional approach, which means it will look at how different factors—like race, gender, and discipline—combine to create challenges for faculty. This approach will help the team understand the specific problems these groups face and how to address them.
Elias is joined by a team of co-investigators, including professors from biology, psychology, public administration, electrical and computer engineering, and history.
Work on the UPLIIFT project will start this fall and continue through the summer of 2027.
Clare is an Eastern Washington University graduate and a reporter at Free Press Publishing.
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