HUNTSVILLE – HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has received a grant to facilitate progress and growth in STEM education throughout Huntsville and Madison County.
According to an announcement Monday, HudsonAlpha is one of 39 teams from across the country that has received part of a $30 million Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) grant.
The new funding has now been allocated to the Institute’s Educational Outreach program for use primarily with middle and high school students.
“This is an incredible opportunity for our Education program to bring life-changing STEM education to students across Huntsville and Madison County in an innovative way,” said Kelly East, vice president of Educational Outreach at HudsonAlpha. “We are so thankful to the National Science Foundation for this funding and to our local school system partners. We cannot wait to help students recognize their potential and give them access to new STEM opportunities.”
The award will help fund two experiential learning programs in genomics and biotechnology and will continue funding for the Launching Aspiring Biotechnology Students (LABS) program, a year-long program for high school students to build biotech skills, scientific content and confidence working in the lab. Funding will also be used to provide more participant support, reducing barriers to participation among underrepresented students. The LABS program is open to all high school students in North Alabama.
Additionally, the award will fund a SPARK program for middle school students, with similar goals of building biotech skills, scientific content and STEM confidence. SPARK will engage groups of 7th- and 8th-grade students in a month-long after school club on middle school campuses. The students will then be invited to attend a culminating capstone day experience on HudsonAlpha’s campus the following summer.
“We are so excited to kick off this new program that is structured in a way that really pushes the boundaries of student STEM experiences at the middle school level,” said East. “A key part of this program is to let students do authentic experiments that help research happening in real time at HudsonAlpha.
“These students will become true student scientists in collaboration with HudsonAlpha research scientists.”
According to HudsonAlpha, SPARK will eventually be implemented in eight schools in Huntsville City and Madison County, with a focus on bringing STEM opportunities to underrepresented students.
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