Cal State East Bay receives $2.5 million grant from S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation for learning center supporting STEM education
- February 3, 2015
California State University, East Bay has received a $2.5 million grant from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation to support development and construction of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaborative Learning (CIRCLe), which will support STEM education on the university’s Hayward campus. The foundation’s grant is the lead gift in newly launched effort to raise funds for STEM education at CSUEB.
“We are grateful that the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation continues to play a pivotal role in the development of Cal State East Bay as a leader in STEM education,” said University President Leroy M. Morishita. “We truly appreciate the foundation’s support for this new facility, which will significantly advance the practice of STEM education along the entire pre-kindergarten through college continuum. The foundation’s support will help Cal State East Bay prepare our future leaders—and their teachers—to address the complex challenges of the 21st century.
“This facility will physically integrate the work of science and education faculty,” Morishita added. “Our innovative program physically locates teacher training with science training – it is a unique idea that can be copied by others. We intend it to be a model for other CSU campuses and public universities.”
“The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation is proud to partner with Cal State East Bay on this effort to ensure that young people have opportunities to excel in the STEM fields,” said Foundation President Lauren Dachs. “We are deeply committed to advancing STEM education and believe that the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaborative Learning will enable Cal State East Bay to provide world-class STEM education and teacher preparation long into the future.”
When it is completed, Cal State East Bay’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaborative Learning will expand the facilities available for STEM education on campus, ensuring added support for the university’s STEM-based academic, research, and professional development programs. The Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaborative Learning will include modular laboratories with project rooms for hands-on participation, shared centralized core instrumentation and support facilities, and flexible collaborative learning spaces. The idea of the facility emerged from the partnership of CSUEB’s College of Science and its College of Education and Allied Studies.
“The CIRCLe will enable Cal State East Bay to increase the quality of its STEM education programming by providing a state-of-the-art facility that meets today’s needs and has the flexibility to adapt to future needs,” said University Provost James Houpis. “The CIRCLe will be a vibrant hub for college students pursuing engineering, science, technology, mathematics, and other STEM-related degrees, pre-service and in-service teachers, local primary and secondary students, and university researchers.”
“The CIRCLe building will create opportunities for faculty and student researchers from different disciplines to work together on problem solving, discovery, and the development of new methods of teaching and learning,” said College of Science Dean Michael Leung. "New educational products, processes, and best practices in teaching generated from collaborative work will be shared with partners in our region and beyond through the Gateways East Bay STEM Network so that they can contribute to systemic change in STEM education with long-term impact. Serving as a model for how teaching, learning and research can happen in an ideal facility, the CIRCLe will provide a platform on which to grow and adapt to changing societal and workforce needs.”
“The gift will ensure that Cal State East Bay has the capacity to continue addressing the needs for high quality STEM education and teacher preparation long into the future,” said College of Education and Allied Studies Dean Carolyn Nelson. “As the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and California Common Core State Standards are implemented throughout California’s K-12 schools, STEM teaching and learning must change dramatically along the entire education continuum.”
Numerous studies show that jobs requiring STEM skills have been growing faster than other jobs—locally, regionally, and nationally. Local employers already struggle to fill STEM jobs. Projections indicate that there will be a demand for 1.1 million STEM workers in California by 2018.
Achievement gaps in California’s K-12 schools and enrollment in post-secondary STEM degree programs reflect insufficient STEM educational opportunities, support, and encouragement for minority students (especially African American and Latino youth). Thirty-four percent of the students in Alameda and Contra Costa public schools are Hispanic and 12 percent are African American. Despite shifting demographics, especially in California, 75 percent of the nation's scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technologists are male and 80 percent are white.
“This is a natural fit for Cal State East Bay,” Morishita said. “In addition to serving a region as richly diverse as the East Bay, a recent survey in The Chronicle of Higher Education cited CSUEB as the most diverse university in the Continental United States. When you combine that with our success in STEM education and a long and recognized history of outstanding teacher education, the road ahead for our students, the region we serve and our country looks very bright.”