Six Missouri S&T faculty are working to help students save money on textbooks with grants from the University of Missouri System. The grants are provided through the UM System Affordable & Open Educational Resources (A&OER) initiative. The program encourages faculty experimentation and innovation in finding new, better and less costly ways to deliver learning materials to students.

The grants are awarded for three levels of costs and cost savings. The levels and S&T faculty recipients are:

Level I – Open educational resources ($0):

Grant recipients will replace an existing textbook or course material with a no-cost alternative.

• Dr. Jessica Cundiff, assistant professor of psychological science
• Dr. Zhishan Guo, assistant professor of computer science
• Dr. Ning Sui, assistant teaching professor of biology

Level II – Low-cost resources (less than $40):

Grant recipients will replace an existing textbook or course materials with a low-cost alternative, defined as less than $40.

• Dr. Agnes Vojta, associate teaching professor of physics
• Dr. Cesar Mendoza, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering

Level III – Major Cost Reduction: (50-90 percent cost reduction):

Grant recipients will replace an existing textbook or course material such that student costs are reduced by 50-90 percent when compared to the previous course materials.

• Dr. Diana Ahmad, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of history and political science

The UM System’s A&OER Taskforce, formed in 2017, created the grant program to assist faculty in adopting or developing new affordable and open educational resources.

The group comprises faculty, students, librarians, instructional designers and bookstore staff from the four campuses. Missouri S&T representatives include taskforce members Dr. Klaus Woelk, associate professor of chemistry; Angela Hammons, technology resource director, and Palash Bhowmik, graduate student and Intercampus Student Council representative.