Featured Post from Georgia Southern University

National Science Foundation awards $2.5M Lifelong Learning Grant to support Georgia Southern computer science and IT departments, 161 scholarships

Aug 23, 2023

2 min

The National Science Foundation announced a $2.5 million award supporting Georgia Southern University researchers in addressing high-demand workforce needs in information technology and computer science fields.



The funded project, “Enabling Lifelong Success in an Information Technology Workforce,” adapts and evaluates evidence-based student support activities within the IT Department, one of the units in the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing. The goal of the project is to identify a group of highly qualified students and to render 161 scholarships over a six-year period in an effort to increase student retention and graduation rates.


“This is great news for the IT program at Georgia Southern, and it will provide a positive impact to the surrounding area as businesses’ needs for IT professionals increase,” said interim Vice President of Research and Economic Development Chris Curtis, Ph.D.


Georgia Southern Professor and Department of Information Technology Chair Yiming Ji, Ph.D., is taking the lead on the grant, which, he noted, has the potential to have a profound impact on students.


“This project will train a pool of talented students, especially those with financial needs, and prepare them for successful careers in IT,” said Ji. “With scholarships from the grant, students will have time to focus on studying, instead of having to work to make ends meet. These students will also receive dedicated support, including academic advising, research opportunities, internship and career service and much more. The result is that these students will become confident and have a greater future in IT careers.”


The project involves four researchers, including Lei Chen, Ph.D., (co-PI), professor of IT; Hayden Wimmer, Ph.D., (co-PI), associate professor of IT; Elise Cain, Ph.D., (co-PI), assistant professor of leadership’ and Kania Greer, Ed.D., (external evaluator), program coordinator of the Center for STEM education. The project also received support from the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and the Georgia Southern Office of Research.


The national and regional demand for computer and IT professionals remains high.


“This project will directly benefit our local, regional and national economies,” said CEC Dean Craig Harvey, Ph.D. “High-tech industries are already in and being attracted to the Savannah area, and the locations of Georgia Southern University’s campuses provide unique opportunities to train high-quality computing and IT professionals who are in high demand.”


The Department of Information Technology offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate computer and IT programs at Georgia Southern, in addition to a new Ph.D. program in applied computing.


This grant is the first of its kind to be received by the IT department. The department hopes that through the use of this grant, they will build stronger partnerships with businesses and federal or state government organizations, among others.



Interested in knowing more? To arrange an interview with Yiming Ji or Chris Curtis, simply connect with Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Powered by

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war

The Middle East has entered an active state of war marked by a cycle of retaliatory strikes across Iran and the Persian Gulf. Three major uncertainties now dominate the global outlook: the long-term survival of the Iranian government, the fate of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and the security of critical oil transit routes. Georgia Southern University Professor of Political Science and International Studies Jacek Lubecki, Ph.D., is available to speak about the military operation in Iran and its implications for regional stability and global security. Lubecki is an expert in comparative politics and military security studies, with a focus on the Middle East and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. His research examines terrorism, counterinsurgency and military strategy. His work has been published in journals including Europe-Asia Studies, East European Politics and Societies, The Polish Review, The New Ukraine and The Armchair General. He has co-authored several books, including Globalization, Nationalism, and Imperialism: A New History of Eastern Europe (2023), which examines domestic and global security challenges, and Defending Eastern Europe: The Defense Policies of New NATO and EU Member States (2021). Lubecki speaks Polish, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, German and Arabic with varying levels of fluency. Lubecki is available for interviews in person at Georgia Southern’s Statesboro Campus or virtually.

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection

The January U.S. military action in Venezuela is altering political connections and calculations across the Western Hemisphere, with deep implications for Cuba. The long-standing belief in the United States’ strategic patience regarding adversarial and destabilizing governments has been decisively overturned and threatens the Cuban government’s vulnerability to collapse. Georgia Southern University Associate Professor of International Studies Christopher M. Brown, Ph.D., is a recognized expert in the democratization and democratic theory of Latin American countries and the Caribbean Basin. He offers expert analysis on the shifting political landscape in Venezuela and the long-term resilience of the Havana-Caracas axis. Brown is a National Endowment for Humanities Scholar with the José Martí Institute at the University of Tampa and participated in a Faculty Exchange with the University of Havana. He has authored several books focused on the failed democratic systems in Latin America and most recently published a book titled “Responding to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: Insights for the Caribbean” (with Georgina Chami Ph.D., University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nalanda Roy, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University). His monograph, “Failed Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Palgrave-Macmillan) was published in August 2023 and he is currently completing, “Democratization of Cuba” (Palgrave-Macmillan), which will be published in June 2026. Brown is available in person at the Statesboro Campus or virtually.  Simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” featured image

2 min

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete”

The Georgia Southern University College of Arts and Humanities will host the next installment of the Moveable Feast lecture series with an in-depth discussion of the evolution of combat training from the tumultuous Middle Ages to the modern-day military. Professor of Spanish Grant Gearhart, Ph.D., will present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., at Service Brewing in Savannah. Gearhart, who is also the coordinator of experiential learning for the Department of World Languages and Cultures, says the presentation is all about connecting modern military training with the physical contests of centuries past. “I wanted to bring back interest in research on the Middle Ages, considering there is a declining interest in the topic within academia,” Gearhart explained. “To connect the past with present in a way that’s digestible for all audiences is something that I feel passionate about bringing to the public.” His research focuses on the evolution of fighting styles and explores how these styles reflect the ethics and values of the cultures in which they were developed. “Today’s soldiers are more than just military personnel, they are athletes,” said Gearhart. “Being a former college athlete sparked my interest in doing this research on the connections between athletics and warriors. I want to show how our modern ideas of soldiers as tactical athletes have historical grounding in the Middle Ages.” The Moveable Feast series is an immersive learning experience that brings lectures into spaces relevant to their topics. The event is free and open to the public.

View all posts
Powered by