El Camino College Wins National Science Foundation Grant
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded El Camino College one of its “Two Year College in STEM Education (ITYC) program grants. El Camino College will receive $596,954 to offer dual enrollment data science classes, expand ECC’s data science professional development for faculty, and connect students with local companies through coursework and events. According to ECC Computer Science Professor and grant Principal Investigator Dr. Solomon Russell, the funds for this project will expand ECC’s data science outreach beyond the campus.
"This NSF award recognizes that we, El Camino College, are leaders in data science education at two-year institutions in the United States," explained Dr. Russell. “Over the last few years, we've focused on building the data science program here at El Camino by offering new classes, providing professional development for faculty, and creating innovative curricula. This national grant will enable us to create a unique data science pathway, connecting our local high school partners with El Camino's innovative data science program while exposing all our data science students to local companies and data science professionals."
The NSF investing $14.5 million in the inaugural set of awards through its Innovation in Two-Year College in STEM Education (ITYC) program. The program aims to support potentially transformative projects that will advance innovative, evidence-based practices at two-year colleges nationwide in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
"Community colleges play a critical role in training people from all parts of the country for a variety of STEM careers including future scientists, engineers, and technicians," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "The Innovation in Two-Year College in STEM Education program is essential to how we expand pathways and opportunities so that more talented people from every part of the nation have the opportunity to make their way into STEM. I'm pleased that Congress recognized the critical role of community colleges in the 'CHIPS and Science Act of 2022' and the foundation they provide for educational opportunities. Programs like ITYC are how we build on that foundation to reach more young people who have bright futures ahead of them in the STEM community."
The twin goals of the ITYC program are to (1) center students in the effort to advance innovation, promote equitable outcomes, and broaden participation for all students in STEM education at two-year colleges and (2) enhance the capacity of two-year colleges to harness the talent and potential of their diverse student and faculty populations through innovative disciplinary, multi-department and college-wide efforts. These goals will be reached by investing in projects at two-year colleges that contribute to student success in STEM-based foundational courses and academic pathways for majors and non-majors.
ITYC features two tracks — A Focus on the Academic Experiences of Two-Year College Students and Leveraging Institutional Strengths and Innovation. A total of 35 awards have been made to proposals in these tracks and for conferences, workshops and planning. The awards are to institutions in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Several projects involve collaborations among institutions.
“ECC is surrounded by high-profile industries with a demand for data scientists. Building K-14 pipelines in this field help prepare our students for this career and support the job demand from industries in our community, expresses El Camino College Mathematics Dean, Dr. Marlow Lemons. “I congratulate Dr. Russell’s continued investments in our students and building a robust data science curriculum at El Camino College.”