The University will officially open a research center to evaluate how faculty teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the undergraduate level.

The STEM Academy will launch in October, under the leadership of Jerry Dwyer, the current director of the STEM Center for Outreach, Research & Education at Texas Tech University according to a University release. Dwyer was selected by a committee of faculty in the schools involved in the collaboration.

Professors in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Graduate School of Education and Human Development will all be part of the STEM Academy, which aims to expand research funding and classroom practices for STEM students and professors at GW.

“The way I see it, the STEM Academy will be a facilitator and catalyst for development in undergraduate teaching, especially in STEM areas,” Dwyer said in a release.

Provost Steven Lerman said earlier this year that the director of the STEM Academy would bring a vision of the center’s future and work to include more faculty in the collaborative program.

“He is an experienced director of a STEM education center, he has long been known in the mathematics community for his efforts in mathematics education and outreach and has a strong record of funding and sponsorship for his initiatives,” Rahul Simha, a professor of computer science who headed the search committee for the STEM Academy director, said in a release.

The University’s strategic plan requests $2 million to $4 million to create and develop the STEM Academy.