Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Bowie State University (MD) and observing a near-peer mentoring session made possible by a strong collaborative partnership between the University, the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). Called the "GEMS Summer Program," being held in-person this year (between June and August) brings 200+ high school students from various area schools to teach them about STEM. The Monday to Thursday days …
News and Updates
If You See Something, Say Something
For the past month or so, my team has been on the road (literally) collecting on-site data for our various evaluation projects (e.g., conducting on site observations of classroom or instructional and after-school activities, completing formal and informal interviews with project staff members and stakeholders, attendance at the Board, steering committee/advisory meetings, completing focus groups with participants and parents/stakeholders, and debriefing the team before leaving). This post is …
Citizen Science to the Rescue!
Raise your hand high if you like Citizen Science! Citizen science is science for everyone. Citizen science is when the public voluntarily helps conduct scientific research. Citizen scientists may design experiments, collect data, analyze results, and solve problems while working or collaborating with the scientists here on the Earth or in some cases, the International Space Station! How cool is that? Did you know that four new varieties of plants headed to the International Space …
55!
No, that's not my age. It's just that we have added 55th NSF grant evaluation to our growing portfolio. Feather River Community College District (FRC) in north-eastern California, one of the smallest, most rural, and remote community colleges within the California Community College System was recently awarded $750K through the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) grant. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund …
An Associate is Now HIRED!
We are very happy to announce that Debbie Igunbor has accepted the position of an Associate at MNA. She will join us on June 1st. Debbie brings a wide range of experience in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She is very passionate about using data to inform impact. Within her evaluation work, she believes that it is important for people to be heard and for programs to accommodate everyone equitably and hopes to continue to use evaluation research to do so. Debbie has a …
Join Our Team!
WE ARE HIRING! POSITION: Associate, Consultant (contractual) HOURS: 20-25 hours/week; M-F SALARY: 30-35K/year LOCATION: Fully remote/U.S. east coast (highly preferred) START DATE: May/June 2022 RESPOND BY: May 15, 2022 MN Associates, Inc. (MNA) is a woman-owned, small business based in Northern VA that specializes in providing education research and program evaluation services to clients across the nation. Established in 2004, MNA is headed by Kavita Mittapalli, Ph.D. who has …
MNA Adds DoDSTEM Project to Their Growing Portfolio
In 2021, a few of us from MNA, the outreach office at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) - U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), and American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) met via zoom to plan and write a proposal for a very competitive grant from the Department of Defense STEM (DoDSTEM) program. The goal of the project, Forge the Future, is to teach and engage high school students (rising juniors and rising seniors) at a school district in Utah Computer …
Site Visit Tips
It seems like the month of April is opening up a few "firsts again" for me in over two years. Earlier this week, I completed my first in-person site visit to the Charm City to observe students making things for an NSF-funded AISL grant being run by the good people at Digital Harbor Foundation. Suffice it to say, it was a very productive trip and I learned a lot from observing the activities and talking to the people who run the program. Mind you, some things simply cannot be captured via a …
Another Noyce Grant Evaluation Added to MNA’s Growing Portfolio
If you build it, they will come. (Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, 1989.) The newly-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) project in the Noyce Scholarship teacher preparation program at University of North Texas aims to serve a national need for building pathways for engineering students to become grade 6-12 STEM teachers in high-need schools. With a one-year planning and capacity building grant, the project will develop a framework for recruitment, retention, and reshaping of …
Scope Creep In Evaluation….It Happens!
Can we take a minute or two to talk about scope creep in evaluation? I know this is a common talking point in project management across the consulting world, but I would like to narrow it down to state how it also affects our work in program evaluation. Often times, we work on fixed, small, tight budgets, and timelines with a few set of deliverables and try to scope out the work before we begin work. However, scope creep can happen at any point during the evaluation's life span and …