YOUNGSTOWN — The National Science Foundation has awarded $300,000 to Youngstown State University engineering professor Cory Brozina for a research project focused on increasing the number of nontraditional college students in engineering.

The award follows $1 million the NSF awarded Brozina last year to increase enrollment and graduation of engineering students who commute.

Brozina, who also is director of first-year engineering at YSU, said the three-year project will contribute to an understudied area of research — understanding the needs and

experiences of nontraditional students in engineering.

This is the third NSF grant for Brozina, who joined the YSU faculty in 2016.

He also received $65,930 from the foundation in 2019 to research approaches to collecting, analyzing and archiving empirical data related to engineering practice.