IU South Bend Prof Scores $630K Grant

ED3 program participants are able to take advantage of local resources

An assistant professor at Indiana University South Bend has been awarded a major grant to continue a program she launched three years ago. The three-year, more than $630,000 grant allows Terri Hebert to move forward with the ED3: Earth Day Every Day Enhanced Design program.

IU South Bend says the grant will bring dozens of teachers and students from the South Bend Community School Corp. to the university "to explore the natural world surrounding the campus." Last year’s three-week program featured topics including urban ecology and forestry, worm composting, birding techniques, insect diversity and Hoosier Riverwatch. 

The university says the program aims to teach valuable skills, such as scientific observation, data collection and analysis and problem-based learning. The grant is an extension of the ED2 grant Hebert received in 2013.

Hebert is also taking part in a collaboration among IU South Bend, Ivy Tech Community College and the University of Notre Dame, who are working toward a two-year National Science Foundation grant to improve undergraduate STEM education. IU South Bend says work related to the more than $270,000 grant begins July 1.