Plant new stems

The University of South Florida is investing heavily in STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education for 2016.

For starters, USF's main campus in Tampa recently received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The campus' College of Arts and Sciences will use the money to develop evidence-based teaching strategies for STEM programs, according to a statement.

Chemistry professor Gerhard Meisels will lead a five-year project dubbed Steer, which stands for Systemic Transformation of Evidence-based Education Reform. The ultimate goal of the project is to “increase the number of well-prepared graduates” in STEM fields, Meisels says in the release.