Dr. McColley awarded the NSF STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship!

We are thrilled to share that Dr. Campbell McColley, a postdoctoral researcher in our group, has been awarded the highly competitive NSF STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. It is a tremendous honor recognizing his exceptional promise and future leader in STEM education research.

Their fellowship project focuses on strengthening partnerships between undergraduate engineering programs and local wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), an often-overlooked but vital part of our communities. With over 16,000 WWTPs nationwide, these facilities represent a vast, underutilized opportunity to provide students with real-world, hands-on learning experiences that make engineering education more meaningful, practical, and connected to community needs.

The project will culminate in the development of a national workshop to equip faculty—particularly at smaller and rural institutions—with the tools and strategies to launch or strengthen these partnerships, ultimately improving student learning outcomes and industry connections.

This important work will advance understanding of how authentic, community-based engineering experiences influence student motivation, professional skills, and beliefs about the relevance of their education. It will also contribute to best practices for building sustainable, mutually beneficial industry–academic collaborations.