Grants Increase Access to Science and Engineering
The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded Virginia State University three grants totaling nearly $598,000 to improve the University’s science and engineering programs and, ultimately, increase the number of minorities in these fields.
A three-year, $297,000 Engineering and Technology Education Center (ETEC) grant will focus upon simultaneous training of underrepresented student and faculty participants in the area of manufacturing engineering.
The goal of the ETEC is to increase the number of minority engineers in Virginia by recruiting and retaining more minority students into this discipline, by developing and implementing the first ABET-accredited, industry-responsive manufacturing engineering program in the Commonwealth and by enhancing the quality of VSU’s engineering programs.
Another three-year grant, this one worth about $252,000, aims to increase minority participation in the biology and chemistry aspects of forensic science by providing hands-on training using state-of-the-art equipment and providing internship opportunities.
Through a two-year, $49,000 grant, VSU will offer a summer science, mathematics and engineering pre-college program for minority seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th graders with an academic year follow-up. This program will provide underrepresented minority students access to science, mathematics and engineering careers. Integral to the program are enrichment activities to enhance test-taking skills, especially SOL and SAT tests and providing contact with professionals in these disciplines to serve as mentors and role models.
The grants fall under the Department of Education’s Minority Science and Education Improvement Program (MSEIP). MSEIP is uniquely designed to strengthen science education programs in minority institutions of higher education as well as to promote access for minorities to careers in science and technology.
In presenting the first year’s payment on these grants, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education Wilbert Bryant stressed the need for programs to create more diversity in the sciences. “As we become more diverse,” he said, “it is important that the educational and training needs of all Americans are met and our minority institutions provide an important educational opportunity for minority students, particularly in science and engineering.”
Virginia State University is in the process of building a new, three story, 77,000-square foot Engineering and Technology Building. The classroom, research and laboratory facility will support the mechanical and electronic engineering technology, computer engineering and manufacturing engineering programs.
Scheduled to open in Fall 2006, the building will contain mechanical, manufacturing, computer and electronics labs, multimedia classrooms, faculty offices, dean’s suite and a state-of-the-art auditorium. The 125-seat, tiered auditorium will be equipped with power and data ports at each seat as well as audio and video projection of attendee participation.
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