We are excited you have thought about teaching as a profession and welcome you to apply to our scholarship program. The Robert Noyce MAT Teacher Scholarship Program is open to all second-year MAT students who have completed bachelor’s degrees in a STEM field.
STEM majors, degrees, or disciplines that are typically eligible for Noyce support are: biological sciences, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and statistics, physical sciences, marine sciences, mathematics and computer science, or fields related to these disciplines.
- First-year scholars are eligible to apply for graduate assistantships in the College of Education
- Second-year (final three semesters of the MAT program) scholars are eligible for a scholarship that covers the cost of attendance.
Scholarship Overview
The GS Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program offers up to the cost of attendance (maximum of $37,500) for the last three semesters of your MAT program with a two-year commitment to teach mathematics or science in a high-need secondary school district. The scholarship is awarded as a forgivable loan.
Requirements
All Georgia Southern Graduate Robert Noyce Teacher Scholars are expected to:
- Be enrolled as a full-time (at least 6 hours) MAT secondary education graduate student while receiving the scholarship.
- Have received a B.S. or B.A. in a STEM field.
- Have graduated with a minimum 2.75 GPA as an undergraduate.
- Be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident.
- Teach for two years in a high-need school district.
- NOT be a “Teacher of Record” for the district in which they are working. Contact noyce@georgiasouthern.edu if you have questions.
Application Requirements
The application for the GS Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is open to M.A.T students. We encourage you to apply during Year 1 for an assistantship position and/or to secure your funding for Year 2. Applications are now being accepted. The application has three parts:
At least one recommendation letter is required. The letter(s) should be from a STEM professor or professional who can address your abilities and potential for becoming a STEM teacher. These can be uploaded within the application, emailed to noyce@georgiasouthern.edu or completed using the form.
Noyce applicant information
A short essay: your narrative should be approximately 200 words addressing all of the following:
Why you want to be a secondary (grades 6-12) mathematics or science teacher,
Your personal and professional qualifications, including any experiences working with K-12 education,
Your commitment to working with diverse student populations, and
How a Georgia Southern Robert Noyce Scholarship could support your career goals.
Application FormProgram Outline
Summer Program (STEP 3)
- Attend a one-week summer internship with state biologists and researchers at the Botanical Gardens at Georgia Southern, focusing on leveraging local resources to promote problem-based learning.
- Apply to become a STEM Ambassador with the Center for STEM Education.
- Attend Noyce regional/national conferences, participate in session presentations, and network with professional contacts.
Academic Year Program (STEP 4 and 5)
- Attend the state disciplinary conference for your content area (Georgia Council for Teachers of Mathematics or Georgia Science Teachers Association).
- Complete a colloquium consisting of six 90-minute meetings each semester
- Complete one STEM Ambassador activity per semester and co-lead a STEM activity at their fall and spring field placement.
- Complete a full-time clinical practice (student teaching) experience in the Spring in Savannah-Chatham County or Evans County Public Schools.
Teacher Induction and Development (Post-Graduation)
The Noyce program is committed to helping you succeed and therefore provides post-graduation coaching and development plans. You will receive two years of mentoring for your participation in the program.
The Georgia Southern University (GS) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award # 2151023).
More information on the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is available on the national Robert Noyce Scholarship Program website or the National Science Foundation website
FAQs
- Recipients of GS Robert Noyce scholarships must be US citizens, nationals, or permanent resident aliens.
- Undergraduate applicants must be a junior majoring in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, or physics, or education majors interested in a dual degree.
- Graduate applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field and be enrolled in MAT secondary education program. STEM majors include: biological sciences, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and statistics, physical sciences, marine sciences, mathematics and computer science, or fields related to these discipline
- Applicant’s CANNOT be a teacher of record while receiving the scholarship.
Reference letters can be uploaded within the application, or emailed to Noyce@georgiasouthern.edu, or completed using the recommendation form.
To qualify as a High-Need School District, the school district must have at least one school that:
- Serves at least 20% students from low-income families;
- Serves at least 10,000 students from low-income families; OR
- Qualifies for funding under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program or the Rural and Low-Income School Program
AND
- Has at least 34% of teachers not teaching in the academic subject area or grade level for which they were trained to teach;
- Has a teacher attrition rate of at least 15% over the last three school years; OR
- Has at least 34% of teachers teaching with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification/licensure
There are several webpages to help you locate high-need schools districts. Since these change frequently, Noyce mentors will work with you to help you determine which districts/schools qualify when you are ready to apply.
The Noyce Team does not place Noyce Scholars for full time employment.
Failure to satisfy the academic requirements of the program or to complete the service requirement will result in the recipient’s forfeiture of the scholarship award with repayments pro-rated accordingly to reflect partial service completed. The formula used to calculate the repayment will be, A = F[(2-s)/2] where “A” is the amount Georgia Southern is entitled to recover; “F” is the sum of the total amount paid to the recipient; “2” is the number of years of service obligation; and “s” is the number of years or fraction of years of such obligation served.
Except as noted below in “Conditions for Waiver and Cancellation” any amount that Georgia Southern is entitled to recover is due within 30 days of the date on which Georgia Southern is entitled to recover such amount. After such time, interest will accrue on the outstanding obligation.
Georgia Southern may waive the repayment obligation, in whole or in part, if it is determined that fulfillment of the service obligation
(1) would be impossible due to a disability of the recipient,
(2) would result in extreme hardship to the recipient, or
(3) is determined to not be in the best interest of the school district.
The recipient must initiate requests for waivers of repayment obligations with a certified letter detailing the reasons why a waiver should be given. Additional documentation may be requested. Decisions on waivers of repayment obligations will require a majority vote by the Principal Investigators of the Noyce grant and the recipient’s faculty advisor(s) during the student teaching and/or induction year of teaching. The Principal Investigator of the grant, or a designee, will respond in writing to requests for waivers by certified mail within 14 days of a request for waiver of repayment obligation.
- Georgia Southern will cancel any repayment obligation in the event of the death of the recipient.
Recipients must commit to serving at least two years for each year of scholarship acceptance as a mathematics or science teacher in a high-need school upon receiving certification.
If the school is part of a Local Education Agency (LEA) or religious jurisdiction, such as a diocese, that functions as an LEA, it can satisfy the Noyce high-need requirement as long as the LEA meets the two criteria of the high-need LEA requirement as defined in section 201 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021). A high-need LEA does not have to be a public school system.
Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed “the Mayor of Silicon Valley”, was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. He is also credited with the realization of the first monolithic integrated circuit or microchip, which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name.
If you have any further questions, please email noyce@georgiasouthern.edu.
Contact Us
Gregory Chamblee, Ph.D.
Program Director
College of Education
Hui Jin, Ph.D.
Program Co-Director
College of Education
Tuyin An, Ph.D.
Program Co-Director
College of Science and Mathematics
Denise Carroll, Ph.D.
Program Co-Director
College of Science and Mathematics