The VIPEr Fellows project started with a 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program in 2017 to develop, test, and refine a flexible, foundation-level inorganic chemistry lecture course (award numbers: 1725822, 1726133, & 1726162). The grant supported two cohorts of twenty faculty, each of whom developed their own “VIPEr-ized” foundation-level inorganic chemistry course. Through classroom observations, analysis of student work, student surveys, and faculty interviews, we generated data on how classroom changes affect student learning, interest, and motivation. The project also investigated how IONiC may encourage the adoption of evidence-based classroom practices.

In 2026, another 5-year grant from the NSF's IUSE program expanded the project to VIPEr Lab Fellows (award numbers: 2539463, 2539464, 2539465). This extension focuses on laboratory experiences across inorganic and general chemistry courses with goals of revising laboratory experiments to be more inquiry-based and more authentic to what scientists do. The grant will support two cohorts of thirty faculty to amplify inquiry and scaffolding of general and inorganic laboratory experiments using evidence-based practices. Observations of students in lab, coupled with analyses of student surveys, laboratory experiment materials, and faculty interviews, will generate data on how to support faculty in adopting evidence-based laboratory practices and how these changes impact student learning and experiences. 

IONiC will also continue summer faculty development workshops, through the most recent NSF grant, where we develop new learning objects, grow the community, and have a lot of fun!