Motorola Foundation awards grants to MSU College of Engineering K-12 outreach programs

by Laura Seeley, College of Engineering

November 28, 2007 - MSU’s College of Engineering will receive two Innovation Generation Grants totaling $95,000 from the Motorola Foundation to assist youth in learning about microsystems, and energy and the environment.

The Motorola Foundation’s Innovation Generation Grants were created in early 2007 to fund education programs that spark a love of science, technology, engineering and math in today’s youth.

Two programs in the College of Engineering will be supported by the grants:

“The Motorola Innovation Generation Grants could not have come at a better time,” said Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment and K-12 outreach in the College of Engineering. “The Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSytems is actively seeking ways to sustain its current programs. This Motorola grant allows us to double the current capacity and expand our WIMS for Teens program from one week to two weeks. We know that the more time students spend on campus gaining experiential engineering education, the more likely they will be to pursue a career in the math, science and engineering fields. This grant also allows us to employ more engineering students to mentor these young people and be good role models for them.”

Kensall D. Wise, director of the WIMS ERC and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, points out that the center’s NSF funding will expire in 2010. “That’s why it’s critically important that companies like Motorola step up and help keep these programs running.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs requiring science, engineering or technical training will increase by 24 percent to 6.3 million between 2004 and 2014, creating greater demand for critical thinkers fluent in technology.

“It’s a struggle to continue to be technologically competitive in the world today,” Wise said. “All too few of our high school students are going into science and engineering fields. But science and engineering competencies are the key to global competitiveness. So it’s urgent that we communicate excitement about engineering and science to our middle school and high school students to maintain our quality of life in the United States.”

“Studies have indicated that we can make the most impact at the middle school level if we can partner with corporations like Motorola, collaborate with the science, math and technology teachers in our schools, and provide hands-on interactive activities to teach math, science and engineering,” Kim said.

Eileen Sweeney, director of the Motorola Foundation, said, “Motorola’s partnership with MSU’s College of Engineering will cultivate the next generation of skilled scientists America will need and help improve our country’s future work force. All of us at Motorola are advocates for education and applaud the work that MSU is doing to ignite an interest in science, math and engineering at an early age, particularly for girls and the underserved.”

Since 2000, Motorola Foundation has contributed more than $35 million in grants to a variety of programs that draw students closer to science, technology, engineering and math.

Complete list of the 106 Innovation Generation Grant recipients