Seven projects receive Open Educational Resource Grants

Seen from behind, a student walks toward the doors to Mills Memorial Library on a fall day.

Seven projects led by McMaster faculty and staff members are receiving grants for the creation and integration of free, high quality open textbooks and course materials to improve teaching and learning.

The McMaster Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program is supported by the Office of the Provost, McMaster University Libraries, McMaster Students Union, and the MacPherson Institute.

It provides successful applicants with funding to create new OER or to adopt, adapt or customize existing OER.

Many of these OER projects lead to significant cost savings for students. The program also offers an honorarium for instructors to peer review existing OER.

Here are the 2025-26 OER grant recipients:

Heather O’Reilly | Assistant professor, Interdisciplinary Science | Faculty of Science
Creation: Introduction to Data Science for the Life Sciences
Christopher Rowley | Assistant clinical professor, Family Medicine, and assistant professor, Physics and Astronomy | Faculties of Health Sciences and Science
Creation: Simulating Life: Physics for Medicine and Biology with Python
Muhammed Fethullah Simsek | Assistant professor, Biology | Faculty of Science
Creation: Fundamental Concepts of Development Course Resource
Seshasai Srinivasan | Associate professor, School of Engineering Technology | Faculty of Engineering
Creation: Interactive Open Educational Resources for Cloud Computing
Ben Taylor | Academic skills program coordinator | Student Success Centre
Adaptation: Writing and Academic Skills Pressbook
Michael Welland | Associate professor, Engineering Physics | Faculty of Engineering
Creation: Experiential Learning of Numerical Methods
Yingnan Zhao | Assistant professor, Finance & Business Economics | DeGroote School of Business
Creation: Financial Modelling: Theory and Practice with Python and Excel

To learn more about the McMaster OER Grant program and the McMaster OER committee, visit the program’s website, LibGuide or email oer@mcmaster.ca.

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Seven projects led by McMaster faculty and staff members are receiving grants for the creation and integration of free, high quality open textbooks and course materials to improve teaching and learning.

The McMaster Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program is supported by the Office of the Provost, McMaster University Libraries, McMaster Students Union, and the MacPherson Institute.

It provides successful applicants with funding to create new OER or to adopt, adapt or customize existing OER.

Many of these OER projects lead to significant cost savings for students. The program also offers an honorarium for instructors to peer review existing OER.

Here are the 2025-26 OER grant recipients:
<ul>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Heather O’Reilly</strong> | Assistant professor, Interdisciplinary Science | Faculty of Science
Creation: Introduction to Data Science for the Life Sciences</li>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Christopher Rowley</strong> | Assistant clinical professor, Family Medicine, and assistant professor, Physics and Astronomy | Faculties of Health Sciences and Science
Creation: Simulating Life: Physics for Medicine and Biology with Python</li>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Muhammed Fethullah Simsek</strong> | Assistant professor, Biology | Faculty of Science
Creation: Fundamental Concepts of Development Course Resource</li>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Seshasai Srinivasan</strong> | Associate professor, School of Engineering Technology | Faculty of Engineering
Creation: Interactive Open Educational Resources for Cloud Computing</li>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Ben Taylor</strong> | Academic skills program coordinator | Student Success Centre
Adaptation: Writing and Academic Skills Pressbook</li>
 	<li aria-setsize="-1" data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1"><strong>Michael Welland</strong> | Associate professor, Engineering Physics | Faculty of Engineering
Creation: Experiential Learning of Numerical Methods</li>
 	<li><strong>Yingnan Zhao</strong> | Assistant professor, Finance &amp; Business Economics | DeGroote School of Business
Creation: Financial Modelling: Theory and Practice with Python and Excel</li>
</ul>
To learn more about the McMaster OER Grant program and the McMaster OER committee, visit the program’s <a href="https://mi.mcmaster.ca/oer-grant/">website</a>, <a href="https://libguides.mcmaster.ca/oer">LibGuide</a> or email <a href="mailto:oer@mcmaster.ca">oer@mcmaster.ca</a>.

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