A year after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the 2017 California wildfires, more than $63 million in federal assistance is going to 47 colleges and universities through the Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program.
Included among the grantees are some community colleges. Daytona State College in Florida received $290,750. Grants also are going to Houston Community College ($570,662) and Wharton County Junior College ($500,000) in Texas.
“This emergency assistance will provide vital resources for those whose lives were impacted by disasters in 2017,” U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a statement. “As those on the ground work every day to recover, the Department of Education will continue to be a partner and resource to get institutions, students and faculty back on their feet.”
California
Los Angeles Pierce College students will soon embark on a virtual journey through the solar system thanks to a $314,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The grant will help to develop and outfit a laboratory that complements an Introduction to the Solar System lecture course. Students will get hands-on learning opportunities that will help create a direct path for students interested in space science to transfer to four-year schools.
The grant also will provide five paid internships for participating Pierce College minority students to work directly with scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The goal of Riverside City College’s grant project is to increase the retention and success of STEM students. (Photo: RCC)
Riverside City College (RCC) will use a nearly $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant to develop and analyze the impact of interventions for students who declared a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) major as part of the college’s Promise Program, which provides students free tuition for their first year at the college. The goal of the grant project is to increase retention within STEM programs at RCC and increase the transfer rates to baccalaureate STEM degrees at four-year institutions.
Some of the interventions RCC uses are summer bridge programs, research experiences, mentoring and college and career workshops. With the grant funding, students also will have the opportunity to conduct summer research projects at California State University, San Bernardino and the University of California, Riverside.
Connecticut
Tunxis Community College’s study abroad project “Connecticut CLICKs: The CT Community Colleges’ International Education Initiative” was awarded at $20,000 grant from the French Embassy in the United States. This is the second year the project has received this grant.
CT CLICKs creates systematic study abroad opportunities for students, widening the path to international education for the more than 70,000 credit-enrolled students of the state’s 12 community colleges. Partners in the initiative include Asnuntuck, Middlesex and Northwestern Connecticut Community Colleges.
Washington
Bates Technical College received a $7,500 Boeing University Relations Scholarship Grant to support scholarships for students enrolled in aerospace manufacturing certificate and STEM-related degree programs that may lead to careers in the aerospace industry.
Bates and Boeing have partnered for several years to help close aerospace industry skills gaps. Currently, Bates serves as a pre-employment testing facility for prospective welders at Boeing, who are tested in a facility designed specifically for this purpose.
“In addition to scholarship support, Boeing also provides valuable feedback through our program advisory committees, including the approval of curricula and recommendations for equipment,” said Erin Zeiger, the college’s executive director of resource development.
