C-STEM Center Receives $2.4M Grant to Introduce African American Girls to Engineering and Robotics

With a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education, or C-STEM, will establish a new initiative to introduce Black/African American girls to engineering and robotics and provide them with resources to lead in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, in their schools, communities and careers.

The Ujima Girls in Robotics Leadership Project is a free, hands-on engineering and robotics program that teaches girls in middle and high school engineering and leadership in a culturally relevant environment. The project is led by C-STEM Director and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Harry Cheng, Faheemah Mustafaa, assistant professor in the UC Davis School of Education, and Teresa Aldredge, former board president of the Umoja Community Education Foundation and a senior advisor to the C-STEM Center.

“This is an exciting opportunity to further encourage the creativity, leadership and scientific genius of Black girls and young women in ways that many don’t have access to in their day-to-day schooling,” Mustafaa said. “I am hopeful about the mutually empowering benefit of this project for the participants, our research team, and everyone else involved.”

Read the full article on UC Davis News