HiPACC Education/Public Outreach Press Room. From: UCI

The Education/Public Outreach Press Room highlights opportunities made available to K-12 or university students or the general public, to learn more about astronomy and computational or data science in all fields, offered by the UC campuses and DOE laboratories comprising the UC-HiPACC consortium. The wording of the short summaries on this page is based on wording in the individual releases or on the summaries on the press release page of the original source. Images are also from the original sources except as stated. Press releases below appear in reverse chronological order (most recent first); they can also be displayed by UC campus or DOE lab by clicking on the desired venue at the bottom of the left-hand column.

September 3, 2014 — A path to the stars

A bridge to the stars
UCI, 9/3/2014—Southern California students who excel in astronomy and physics but are traditionally underrepresented in those fields will soon get a big boost toward earning doctorates at University of California research campuses, thanks to a new mentoring and scholarship program. Cal-Bridge is a consortium of eight California State University schools, five UC campuses, and eight community colleges working to increase the number of underrepresented, often lower-income students who complete bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in astronomy, physics or closely related fields. Hispanics and women are among the targeted students. The National Science Foundation has awarded the group $600,000 for financial support and intensive joint mentoring of Cal-Bridge Scholars by community college, Cal State and UC faculty during the last two years of undergraduate education and first year of graduate school.

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June 20, 2014 — The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UCI receives $9.5 million gift

$9.5 million to UCI for STEM diversity education
Stacey Nicholas, whose Opus Foundation facilitated a $9.5 million donation to the Samueli School of Engineering, said she greatly admires and supports Dean Gregory Washington’s commitment to outreach, diversity and innovation in STEM education. “I am thrilled to be able to make a difference,” she said. Credit: Henry Samueli School of Engineering
UCI 6/20/14—Stacey Nicholas’ Opus Foundation has made a $9.5 million gift to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine. The donation will establish a $2 million endowed deanship; fund student scholarships and graduate fellowships; and support school programs that focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) outreach. It will also facilitate an ongoing partnership with St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano. $5 million will support the Academic Innovation & Research in Engineering (AIRE) program, which conducts K-12 and community college outreach and promotes interest in STEM subjects through project-based learning. A $2 million endowment will be established to support the Samueli School directed toward K-12 and undergraduate engineering education initiatives. An endowment of $1 million will create need-based scholarships for underrepresented students in engineering. A $1 million endowment will fund graduate fellowships for underrepresented students. And $500,000 will be used to create a study area within the school.

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