Connecticut’s leading business lobby said today it received a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to promote innovative technology experiences for teachers and students.
Hartford-based Connecticut Business & Industry Association said its education foundation will use the grant to motivate 9th and 10th grade students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in participating schools in a program known as Project Opening Doors (POD).
POD is CBIA’s program to increase the number of underrepresented students taking Advanced Placement classes in math, science and English, preparing them to succeed in post-secondary education or employment after high school. Â
Judith K. Resnick, executive director of the CBIA Education Foundation said the grant will help “close the achievement gap and increase the number of students prepared for high-tech jobs in Connecticut.” Resnick said CBIA received one of 35 awarded out of 254 proposals nationally.
CBIA will work with the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford and industry partners to expose students to cutting-edge technologies, industry issues, and role models, in order to motivate and excite them about future careers in the sciences. Using technology, students from participating schools will work on problems together and present them at the science center, to a wider audience.
The program will provide teachers and students with access to resources at the science center and to CBIA member companies’ sponsored exhibits at the center. Companies actively participating in the grant include Pfizer, United Technologies Corp., Northeast Utilities Inc., and General Electric.
Partners in the grant include school districts participating in POD, CBIA’s National Math & Science AP Initiative, the science center, the state Department of Education, the College of Technology, and Central Connecticut State University.
