Roanoke College is part of a consortium that has been awarded $1.55 million in federal grant money to build partnerships with the region’s STEM-H (science, technology, engineering, math and health) innovators and strengthen the skilled workforce pipeline.
The three-year grant, bestowed by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s EPIIC program, is part of a nationwide push to expand higher ed partnerships and capitalize on what smaller colleges can offer the STEM-H innovation economy.
“This program is appropriately named because it’s presented us with a truly epic opportunity,” said Len Pysh, EPIIC initiative director for Roanoke College and a professor of biology. “It will allow us to make an impact both on and off campus in ways that are only possible thanks to this support.”
Roanoke College’s share of the grant funding will total $399,406. Its project, “Connect Four,” will see it join forces with other, diversified institutions to tackle four goals:
- Expand each institution’s capacity to pursue and sustain outside partnerships;
- Build connections with a wider network of community, industry, nonprofit and government partners;
- Develop improved means of communicating with key constituencies;
- Boost the success rate of growing community connections into sustainable, scalable partnership programs.
The goal is to support more STEM-H partnerships that fuel opportunities to redefine teaching and service in ways that advance innovation and workforce development. EPIIC is specifically designed to serve smaller or underrepresented colleges that historically have had limited ability to absorb the time-consuming work of building new collaborations from scratch.
Read the full press release by Roanoke College, posted on September 25, 2024.
Recent Comments