Stephanie Carlson, PhD, and her team have received a grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will total $2.5 million over the course of 5 years in support of their research titled “Aligning Measurement of Personal Attributes for Predicting STEM Education Outcomes.”

Carlson is a Co-PI with James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate in Economics at the University of Chicago, as well as Pat Killonen (Educational Testing Service) and Thomas Dohmen (University of Bonn). Carlson will be leading the University of Minnesota (U of M) data collection with a diverse cohort of 4th grade students and 8th grade students, each followed for 5 years to track their achievement and interest in STEM careers. The main goal of the study is to identify the optimal combination of traits, Executive Functioning skills, and preferences for predicting STEM achievement (grades, test scores, teacher ratings, as well as choice of college major and career).