EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University’s College of Engineering has received an Innovation Generation grant from the Motorola Foundation to bring middle school and high school students and teachers into MSU research labs next summer.

The Motorola Foundation’s Innovation Generation grants support programs that engage students in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, to build the confidence and skills they need for success both now and in the future. This year, the foundation is providing $5 million in grants to more than 100 programs across the country in support of out-of-school programming, teacher training, curriculum development and other programs.

MSU’s $50,400 grant will be used to fund the Pathway to Becoming a Spartan Engineer Middle and High School Research Experience in summer 2010, an immersive engineering research experience for middle school and high school students.

Participants for the program will be selected from attendees at one of three MSU residential programs scheduled this summer – Wireless Integrated MicroSystems, High School Engineering Institute and Women in Engineering. Those students who demonstrate a strong interest in, and aptitude for, a career in the STEM fields will be invited to participate in the 2010 program.

The Research Experience students will join teachers who participated in MSU’s 2008 Research Experience for Teachers, a program funded by a previous Motorola grant.

About 20 students and eight teachers will be placed in specific labs based on student interviews, areas of interest, and teachers’ areas of expertise. They will work alongside MSU faculty members in their labs to create hands-on engineering curricula for science, technology, and/or engineering classes. MSU undergraduate and graduate students also will be working in the labs with the participants.

“These students and teachers will gain knowledge in cutting-edge technologies and will learn how to devise well-developed, exciting, engineering-based curricula,” said Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment and K-12 outreach in the College of Engineering.

The middle school program will run for one week, while the high school students will be on campus for two to three weeks.

“Research has shown that these types of experiences help develop an engineering and technology awareness in the students,” Kim said. “In addition, the teachers have reported an increase in their awareness and promotion of engineering to their students.”

“Innovation Generation programs make science and math both real and fun for today’s students, bringing to life what they hear from their teachers every day,” said Eileen Sweeney, director of the Motorola Foundation. “The work MSU’s College of Engineering is doing to engage students in these subjects will help our next generation to succeed in a global, knowledge-based economy where critical thinking is no longer just a benefit, but a necessity.”

###

The Motorola Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering innovation and engaging stakeholders. The Motorola Foundation focuses its funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming.

###

Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.