This project focuses research on understanding what it takes to get underrepresented students to succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as its central goal. It is implementing and testing an instructional model for 2,000 6-8th grade students in ten Washington, DC public, charter schools to increase student interest in and pursuit of careers in engineering and other STEM areas, with a focus on energy and renewable resources. Students may also apply for out-of-school learning activities, including engineering clubs, summer institutes, and career exploration.

Arizona State University (ASU) in collaboration with Arizona Science Center, Boeing, Intel, Microchip, Motorola, Salt River Project, AZ Foundation for Resource Education, AZ Game & Fish Department, US Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, Mesa Public Schools, and Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley, offer a three-year extracurricular project resulting in IT/STEM-related learning outcomes for 96 participants in grades 7, 8, and 9.

This is a proposal for a 3 year project to be conducted as a collaboration among 8 higher education institutions and several school systems across the country, with Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA serving as the lead institution (other collaborators are from Colorado School of Mines, Ithaca College, Santa Clara University, Duke University, the University of Mississippi, Columbia College, the University of Charleston and the Virginia Beach School System).

DAPCEP's youth-based Engineering and Information Technology Education Project aims to engage students in activities that will increase their access to IT within the context of engineering and increase their opportunities to explore related college and career paths. One hundred twenty African American and Latino 7th and 9th grade students and 180 parents participate in carefully planned courses designed to expand their knowledge of engineering and to lay the foundation for successful lifelong learning related to a range of IT.

The youth-based ITEST proposal, Invention, Design, Engineering and Art Cooperative (IDEA), provides 100 students in grades 8-12 from the East Side of St. Paul, Minnesota with IT experiences in engineering and design.

ITEST Strategies is a 3 year project for grades five through eight students and teachers. Pooling resources from a host of collaborators and previously funded projects such as “From the Ground Up” curriculum created for use with the MicroObservatory network of robotic telescopes, teachers engage students in exploring themes that researchers have found to be difficult for middle school youth. These themes include light and color, size and scale, laws of motion, and more. Activities include programming and controlling robotic telescopes from home and school.

This North Carolina State University (NCSU) project entitled Photonics Leaders II (PL2) is a Strategies project for 80 underrepresented minority and rural 10th grade students, their parents or caregivers, and 60 teachers. The project nurtures interest in optics, electronics, computer hardware and software, while building the intellectual, communication and personal skills needed for success in the STEM workforce.

California State University San Marcos, Rochester Institute of Technology, San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego Science Alliance, K-12 High Speed Network, California State Parks, and nine southern California middle schools are collaborating to develop, implement, and evaluate teacher professional development and student learning experiences to enhance science and information and communication technologies (ICT) learning among underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students (primarily Hispanic and Native American) in grades 7 and 8.

GreenFab: Sustainable Design Through Engineering and Technology is an academic enrichment program designed to teach STEM concepts through hands-on, project-based learning activities that emphasize career development in the emerging field of sustainable technologies.

The Bay Area Video Coalition's (BAVC) proposed Advanced Digital Pathways (ADP) project provides 150 underserved low-income 9-12 grade youths with 180 contact hours of activities in information technology (IT) to better prepare them to pursue careers in IT and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. ADP offers two full years of activities for youths from the San Francisco Bay Area to participate in the digital media technology segment of the IT field.