SBU ‘TechPREP’ Program And The Motorola Foundation Collaborate To Empower Youth To Excel In Math And Science
TechPREP at Stony Brook University Receives Innovation Generation Grant
STONY BROOK, NY – July 22, 2010 – TechPREP, an outreach program for middle school girls run by the Women in Science and Engineering program and the College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook University, today announced it has received $50,700 as part of the Innovation Generation grant program from the
Motorola Foundation
, the charitable arm of Motorola Inc. Through the grant, TechPREP will continue its program of providing educational outreach programs for young girls from the Brentwood and Longwood school districts.
|
| Middle School students participate in technology program instruction. |
TechPREP sponsors a series of three education modules offered through a Saturday program and a two-week summer day camp. Each module presents 90 hours of instruction in Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics, and Engineering Applications. The grant will allow TechPREP to extend its programming for another year. “Due to a nationwide shortage of technology workers, particularly women, there is a need to introduce young women to technology fields early in their education,” says Carrie-Ann Miller the Director of Stony Brook’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program and Co-Director of TechPREP.
Since inception, the TechPREP program at Stony Brook has provided innovative and challenging programming to over 60 young girls in its instructional components and 100s of other young girls through school visits and participation in other activities such as the “Connect to Tech” career fair and a spring engineering fair sponsored by Stony Brook University and Professional chapters of the Society of Women Engineers and the Long Island Girl Scouts of America.
Since 2005, the Motorola Foundation’s signature Innovation Generation program seeks to boost American students’ engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through funding, employee volunteers and intra-grantee collaboration. Building on President Barack Obama’s “
Educate to Innovate
” campaign and federal initiatives like the “
Race to the Top Fund
,” the program provides $7.5 million to K-12 programs across the U.S. (including TechPREP) to support hands-on, innovative after-school programs, science and math clubs, teacher training and mentoring programs.
“This funding provides us an opportunity to not only continue a valuable program that breaks down stereotypes and makes STEM approachable to young girls, but it also provides an opportunity for the University to expend its intellectual capital into communities where it is needed,” said Paul Siegel, one of TechPREP’s Co-Directors.
“Engaging youth in STEM fields will be crucial to driving future innovation and keeping America competitive in a global economy,” said Eileen Sweeney, director of the Motorola Foundation. “With the help of these grants, TechPREP and Motorola can work together to ensure we are adequately building a diverse pipeline of critical thinkers and addressing the most pressing needs around education.”
Innovation Generation is a part of Motorola’s larger commitment to engaging youth in STEM education. More than just funding, TechPREP will receive ongoing support from a Motorola employee through the company’s “Innovators” employee volunteer program, which utilizes the expertise of Motorola’s workforce to inspire the next generation of inventors. Stony Brook University and TechPREP are also now is part of the Innovation Generation network, where it can create vital connections with hundreds of other organizations with the common vision to make a greater impact on STEM education.
Since 2007, more than $20.5 million has been awarded to STEM programs nationwide through Innovation Generation funding. For more information on the grant program, please visit
www.motorola.com/giving.
For additional information on TechPREP, please visit
www.stonybrook.edu/techprep
.
About the Motorola Foundation
The Motorola Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering innovation and engaging stakeholders. Motorola Foundation focuses its funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming. For more information, on Motorola Corporate and Foundation giving, visit
www.motorola.com/giving
.
About Stony Brook University
Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University encompasses 200 buildings on 1,450 acres. In the 50+ years since its founding, the University has grown tremendously, now with nearly 24,700 students and 2,200 faculty and is recognized as one of the nation’s important centers of learning and scholarship. It is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and ranks among the top 100 national universities in America and among the top 50 public national universities in the country according to the 2010 U.S. News & World Report survey. Considered one of the “flagship” campuses in the SUNY system, Stony Brook University co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory , joining an elite group of universities, including Berkeley, University of Chicago, Cornell, MIT, and Princeton, that run federal research and development laboratories. SBU is a driving force of the Long Island economy, with an annual economic impact of $4.65 billion, generating nearly 60,000 jobs, and accounts for nearly 4% of all economic activity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and roughly 7.5 percent of total jobs in Suffolk County.
– See more at: http://commcgi.cc.sunysb.edu/cgi-bin/am2/admin.cgi#sthash.AkAiJNZO.dpuf
