The future of American jobs is in STEM. According to the 2016 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index, graduate numbers and salaries in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math are increasing as jobs in STEM fields significantly outpace the national average. In order to prep students to compete in this evolving market, HBCU’s are tasked to adapt curriculum and course offerings accordingly. With a new grant program to support STEM pathways for HBCU students, Intel is investing $4.5 million into this effort, and Morgan State is one of six historically black colleges and universities to be awarded a portion of the grant.
“It’s going to support 25 two-year fellowships for students at Morgan, and it’s going to allow us to start a one-year professional master’s program,”
Michael Spencer, dean of the School of Engineering, said in an interview with WBALTV. With a $750,000 share of the grant to be distributed over three years, Morgan State has earmarked the funding to build up the school’s computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering programs.
The inpouring of support has generated excitement among students on campus. It’s a good feeling to receive some extra help,” said Rico Clark, an engineering student. The HBCUs do fall short on funding from time to time, so the fact that Intel is giving us extra money, it’s really going to help out the program here.” Intel hopes that the investment will attract more students into STEM fields.
In addition to Morgan State, Florida A&M, Howard, North Carolina A&T, Prairie View A&M and Tuskegee universities will benefit from the Intel grant. We see you Intel!
This article was originally published via Blavity.com
