University of Montana receives NSF Grant for Native STEM Education

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded the University of Montana (UM) $740,000 to promote STEM educational activities (science, technology, education and math) among Native students in six states.  Under the grant UM will be working with pardner colleges, including tribal colleges, each of which will receive a portion of the funding to develop a comprehensive plan.  The initiative was originally brain-stormed at a Native STEM Educational Summit involving colleges from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North and South Dakota and New Mexico.

Phase one of the STEM initiative was based on a 2020 summer STEM educational experience held at UM, primarily attended by middle school students from the Blackfeet and Navajo reservations, but in the future that and other STEM activities will be extended to Native students, including high schoolers across a six-state region in the Great Plains. That project is known as “Montana AIMS”.

This grant, phase two  of what will hopefully be a permanent effort will be used primarily to seek guidance and advice from tribal colleges, communities and parents said project coordinator, Aaron Thomas (Denai), UM Associate Professor chemistry engineer has worked on the STEM initiative for several of his twenty years in higher education, previously working with New Mexico and Idaho universities.  “We are very excited to bring this opportunity to Native students and the Tribes,” Thomas said.  “By starting with young students in middle and high school, we hope to see a new crop of Native STEM students in the future. With 10.5% of the Native American population residing the six-State project area, we are poised to make a significant impact.  The goal is to support a STEM ready Native workforce ready to support their communities, especially for economic development.”

Phase 3 of the project will be the submission of a 10-million-dollar grant application to NSF to continue the work over an additional five years.

During the 2020 two-week STEM workshop held at UM a variety of learning activities was proved:  each student built their own computer; held daily Math Wrangles, field trips etc., experiencing the University lifestyle.  One key coordinator was Melanie Magee, Blackfeet, GEAR UP Coordinator, Browning Middle School. “What’s missing in a lot of Native American communities is what I call “college knowledge”. Since neither of my parents went to college it was a huge gap of adjustment for me. At least with STEM and GEAR UP, they (Native students) can get the experience at a University,”  she said.

For more information about the MT AIMS or STEM initiative contact Aaron Thomas at aaron.thomas@umt.edu.

 

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com)

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