National Science Foundation awards grant to UTEP and Smithsonian Latino Center

By Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum

The University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) and the Latino Center have received a $297,550 grant from the National Science Foundation for a three-year impact study to increase participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers for Latino students.  Recent studies by the Latino Center have identified a number of challenges that prohibit US Latino engagement in STEM education such as demographics, cultural identity, educational attainment, language, and socio-economic status. To address this, the Latino Center has developed a suite of  HYPERLINK “http://latino.si.edu/education/LVM_Main.htm” online resources for youth and educators to encourage interest in STEM. One such resource is the Center’s  HYPERLINK “http://latino.si.edu/PDF/LVM/LVMWatershed_flyer_print.pdf” Mi Tierra, Mi Mundo/My Land, My Worldproject, an online resource that teaches students about environmental impact and sustainability.

An additional 125k from the Target Corporation will augment scale up of the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum’s bilingual virtual STEM products and national pilot site expansion under SLC’s Latinos in STEM initiative.

This article was first published in Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum.