Cincinnati has been selected as one of four global launch cities for General Electric Co.'s 10-year college-readiness program, Next Engineers.
The GE Foundation will invest $5 million in Cincinnati to help more than 3,500 students ages 13-18 prepare for future careers in engineering and increase diversity in the profession, according to a press release.
Cincinnati will join Greenville, South Carolina; Staffordshire, United Kingdom; Johannesburg, South Africa as inaugural locations for the program, which will provide hands-on experiences in engineering and financial support for students.
"I’m confident this program will be transformational for young people in our community,” said Joe Allen, chief diversity officer at Evendale-based GE Aviation.
GE, which also has offices Downtown at The Banks, announced in April that it will spend $100 million on the program worldwide with the goal of reaching more than 85,000 students in approximately 25 cities over the next decade.
GE will work with the University of Cincinnati to implement Next Engineers.
"Underrepresented groups have the talent but continuously lack the access to opportunity," said Whitney Gaskins, assistant dean of Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement for UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science. "The GE Next Engineers program will help us connect and provide the necessary access.''
Next Engineers offers three programs for aspiring engineers:
- Engineering Discovery for students ages 13-14 is designed to increase awareness through multiple, short, one-hour exploratory experiences and hand-on activities connecting students to real engineers. Sessions are delivered by volunteers in the classroom or in the community to inspire youth early and highlight the broad array of engineering careers.
- Engineering Camp for students ages 14-15 is a week-long immersive camp experience over school break where students interact with experienced engineering faculty and staff, complete design challenges solving real-world problems and interact directly with professional engineers and business leaders.
- Engineering Academy for students ages 15-18 is a three-year college readiness program for upper secondary students that helps them learn to think and act like engineers and prepare them to select and succeed at an engineering major at the university level. The program provides 80 hours per year of out-of-school programming. The program will include longer challenges and a capstone project, career coaching to expose students to different engineering pathways, and college-readiness workshops. Students accepted to higher education engineering programs will also receive a scholarship from the GE Foundation.
Students can begin applying for the Engineering Academy program today at www.nextengineers.org
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