Stevens receives $2.4 million in competitive state grants

Stevens Institute of Technology has been awarded two competitive High-Tech Workforce Excellence Grants totaling more than $2.4 million by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. The funding will be used by Stevens to help address two of the state's most critical needs: strong education and leadership in the development of new technologies, and the enhancement of K-12 science and mathematics education in schools that need it most.

The two grants awarded to Stevens were among only nine awarded statewide this year, selected from 45 proposals. Stevens' award-winning grants include:

• "$1,341,800 for "Implementation of Technogenesis^® in the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum," a program that will enhance undergraduate engineering programs by aligning them with the institution's strategic direction.
• "$1,078,560 for "K-12 Partnership Enhancement," a program that will provide intensive professional development on the use of the Internet to science teachers from Abbott district schools in New Jersey, the state's 30 school districts designated for enhancements because of economic disadvantages.

"The winning proposals in this competition were reviewed by two separate teams of reviewers from both inside and outside the state," said Stevens' President, Dr. Harold J. Raveche.

"That an institution the size of Stevens would be awarded two of these nine grants speaks volumes about the excellence of our faculty," he said, "and it strongly validates the importance of our new institutional direction - education rooted in Technogenesis, a unique model in higher education that Stevens is developing today."

Technogenesis, a term trademarked by Stevens, is defined as "the educational frontier wherein students, faculty and industry jointly nurture new technologies from concept to realization." The High Tech Workforce Excellence Grant for implementing Technogenesis in undergraduate engineering will ultimately enhance Stevens' reputation for producing engineers who can innovate and lead in cutting-edge technological fields. The funds will be used to develop and implement project-based learning across the undergraduate curriculum, develop learning materials for entrepreneurship, and create a Product Innovation and Realization Center to develop student projects from concept to prototype.

The grant for the K-12 Partnership Enhancement project will assist some of New Jersey's most disadvantaged schools by strengthening teaching and learning in science, mathematics and other core subjects through the meaningful integration of Internet-based curriculum resources. Through the grant, Stevens' Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) will enhance its already highly successful K-12 Partnership Program. The program helps teachers use the Internet to create educational opportunities for educationally and economically disadvantaged students by increasing their interest and participation in science, math and technology education.

The funds will be used to provide training, on-site classroom support, and hardware to teachers in the neediest schools in the state, thereby helping to create the human capital needed to fuel New Jersey's high technology workforce. Half of the funds will go directly to fund computers and Internet connections for use at the schools.

For the past six years, CIESE has been engaged in regional and national programs to train teachers to integrate Internet resources into effective classroom learning. To date, the center has worked with more than 6,000 teachers.

In total, the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education awarded nine grants totaling $14.3 million. The only other institution to receive two grants was Rutgers University. The grants are intended to help New Jersey colleges and universities develop nationally recognized programs in technology and to give area businesses the quality workforce they need.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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