About the Center

The STEM Research Center (formerly the Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning) was established in 2012 to work across campus to enhance OSU's capacity in STEM learning research, and to strengthen the impact of this research on the practices of teaching and learning. The Center is unique among STEM center counterparts around the country in its focus on research and its commitment to understanding learning and engagement across all settings (in and out of school) and across the lifespan for all audiences. These audiences range from young to old learners, laypeople to STEM professionals, and occur within both formal educational and free-choice learning contexts. Within OSU, the Center serves as a neutral broker for a diverse and decentralized community of those who engage in STEM learning research within our university by functioning as a central hub and institutional support structure. Externally, the Center serves as a representative for OSU’s STEM learning research at the state, national and international levels. Major initiatives at the center include the institutionalization of tools and capacities to expand the societal benefit or ‘broader impacts’ of the OSU research enterprise as related to the Center’s mission, redefining and modeling undergraduate success, and leading research in both free-choice and formal learning arenas.

Website: STEM Research Center