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

Contact: Laura Seeley, College of Engineering: (517) 432-1303, lseeley@egr.msu.edu; Drew Kim, College of Engineering: (517) 353-7282, kima@egr.msu.edu; or Craig Somerton, College of Engineering: (517) 353-6733, somerton@egr.msu.edu

Nov. 26, 2007

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University’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:

• Wireless Integrated MicroSystems for Teens (WIMS for Teens) will receive $50,000. This two-week summer residential program for 7th- to 9th-graders is designed to hone the skills of students who may choose careers in science, math and engineering fields, specifically in Wireless Integrated MicroSystems. Microsystems are very small information-gathering nodes that gather data from the environment, interpret it and wirelessly communicate it through local or global information networks. Microsystems blend low-power embedded computing with sensing and wireless interfaces to tackle problems in the health care, energy and defense fields. The course is offered through the National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS ERC), a partnership between the University of Michigan, MSU and Michigan Technological University. More than 1,000 students – many of them girls and minorities – have enrolled in more than 40 short courses since the center was created in September 2000.

• The Youth in Energy and Environment Humanitarian Project will receive $45,000.This program involves 3rd- to 6th-graders in a design project for the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s capstone course about energy and the environment. This semester’s project is already under way; MSU students are working with 5th- and 6th-graders at Lansing’s Woodcreek Magnet School to develop a solar-heated worm bin. For several years, the school has used a worm-based compost approach for disposing of lunch waste. But in winter, the worms hibernate and the composting stops. A solar heating system would heat the compost pile and keep the worms active. The grant will provide funding for equipment and supplies and will enable the class to travel to MSU to attend the College of Engineering’s Design Day.

“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.

For a complete list of the 106 Innovation Generation Grant recipients, visit www.motorola.com/giving.

###

Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.