LC awarded $200K grant for COVID-19 research

By Christian Alejandro Ocampo, LMTonline.com / Laredo Morning Times

Laredo College announced on Friday that the college was awarded a $199,978 grant by the National Science Foundation’s Hispanic Serving Institutions program in order to research the benefits of a fully virtual undergraduate research format and provide undergraduates opportunities to research with faculty members.

“Students in Laredo must be career-ready to meet the demands of our country’s STEM industries,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This federal investment will help students learn quantitative skills by gathering and analyzing COVID-19 pandemic data from our community.”

According to Dr. Nora Garza, LC Principal Investigator, the major goal of the project is to use real COVID-19 data to teach quantitative reasoning skills to Hispanic students. Students are expected to use the data from the pandemic and apply mathematical concepts and models to find trends and make predictions.

She also said that both new and returning students will benefit from the additional programs the grant will bring.

High school students are being recruited, and approximately 70 students from all Laredo high schools have already been selected for virtual platforms to discover the impact of real-time research. The full group is expected to be 100 students, and they will participate in a virtual summer bridge in the first week of August.

Thirty students from both Cigarroa and Martin High School have already been selected to receive a scholarship to LC. Seven more students who are pursuing degrees in food, agriculture and natural resources will also receive a scholarship as a result of a from a USDA NIFA Grant.

Applications are still available for students that pursue a food, agriculture and natural resources degree for a $25,000 scholarship that can help before and after that student transfers to a four-year university.

Garza provided four objectives of which the funding will be allocated to that will ultimately enhance STEM fields at LC.

“Students will increase their quantitative reasoning knowledge base, their skillset and confidence level by gathering, interpreting, analyzing data and drawing conclusions based on numerical evidence and communicating this information to others,” Garza said.

The first is to implement a quantitative data analysis research experience which will give students opportunities to learn and improve their understanding of the data. This may help with finding the trends and knowing which mathematical concept to implement.

The second objective focuses on professors in the research division and is focused on creating research opportunities at the college, Garza said. The objective aims to give professors with Doctorates or masters the capacity to research outside of their classrooms.

The impact on the student’s overall experience and the expected improvements of their skills will be looked over for the third objective. According to Garza, the data will investigate the success of students during their time in the project and their transition from a two-year to a four-year university.

“By gathering data of the COVID-19 spread in Laredo, the tragedy can be an opportunity to use data to study, to learn and to prepare for the future,” Garza said.