BBCC receives $4.4 million federal STEM grant funds

A $4.4 million federal grant focusing on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) was awarded to Big Bend Community College September 20.

The grant provides $900,000 per year for five years toward STEM curricula, facilities, equipment, career advising and professional development.

“It will be exciting to see how the resulting collaboration with employers and baccalaureate institutions will impact our students and our communities,” said BBCC President Bill Bonaudi.

Jobs in STEM fields are plentiful in the college’s rural service district due to a growing and diversified industrial sector, Bonaudi said. Corporations such as REC Silicon, Microsoft, SGL/BMW, Genie, Takata, Yahoo, Dell and Intuit have created demand for STEM professionals.

BBCC Title V Director Terry Kinzel said most BBCC students have little knowledge of opportunities available in STEM fields. “Those jobs represent opportunities to improve their standard of living,” Kinzel said.

The goal is to get more students to complete an associate degree in pre-engineering or another STEM field and transfer to a university. Bonaudi said. Collaboration with STEM faculty at Central Washington University and Eastern Washington University is part of the project.

Just 14 percent of adults in Grant and Adams counties (the college’s service district) have a college degree, compared with 27 percent nationally.

The biggest barrier to BBCC students completing STEM degrees is their inability to cross the “math barrier,” Kinzel said. More than 90 percent of BBCC students require remedial math.

The grant will focus on electrical and mechanical engineering pathways. Funding is included for facilities, instrumentation, and technologies related to STEM degrees. The project includes funding to remodel the college’s Math/Science Building to include dedicated STEM labs and learning areas.