TWU faculty members Drs. Diana Elrod, Robby Petros, David Gardner, Jorg Waltje and Karen Dunlap have been awarded $2,448,091 from the National Science Foundation for their new initiative Partnerships, Research, Innovation, Mentoring and Engagement (TWU-PRIME). TWU-PRIME will improve retention and graduation rates for undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) students at TWU through course redesign and a TWU-PRIME Academy, which will be developed for TWU STEM faculty teaching foundation courses to gain experience with innovative, evidence-based and culturally relevant teaching approaches involving active learning techniques. The initiative also will include partnerships with external communities who will promote career awareness and provide mentorship to women in STEM, many of whom are typically underrepresented in those fields.