UA Engineering Awarded Grant to Expand Science and Math in Sumter County Schools

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama College of Engineering has landed a $2.98 million grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Graduate Education to establish a new five-year program for two high schools and four middle schools in Sumter County.

The goal of the program is to incorporate engineering applications into the existing science and math courses at these schools by creating materials and resources for students under the direction of eight UA graduate fellows. This program will provide additional resources for the newly-created Alabama engineering academies.

The program’s theme concentrates on sustainable energy systems, in particular the study of alternative and traditional systems, including renewable resources and their impact on the environment.

Sumter County students will learn about sustainable energy systems through experiments, worksheets, presentations and other methods developed by UA graduate fellows and faculty. In addition, these teaching modules will be broadcast through the Internet to other engineering academies throughout the state.

Dr. Beth Todd, associate professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator of the project, said the faculty selected the theme because of its current relevance as a major technical issue in our society.

While the program aims to provide resources and support for the engineering academies, it also focuses on equipping UA engineering students with skills and experiences to become leaders in the field of engineering.

Todd said this will be a learning experience for UA engineering graduate students as they will be able to recognize the global and societal impacts of the program by working with students from many different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

“This program will teach our students cross-cultural communication and teaming skills and give them experiences with students from other cultures and backgrounds,” Todd said. “We hope to expand these classroom activities to other schools in Alabama in the future.”

In addition to the UA faculty and graduate fellows, the program is partnering with UA’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, the Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative, Alabama Science in Motion, and the ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) Distance Learning program.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 2,300 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.