Funding for the event was through a seed grant from the 1804 Fund.
Here is a brief description of the project:
David M. Chelberg, Lonnie R. Welch, Robert Williams
College of Education:
Catherine H. Glascock, Rosalie M. Romano, Teresa J. Franklin
This project is a collaborative effort by the Colleges of Engineering and Education. The purpose of this collaboration is to provide avenues to potential college majors and professional careers for underprivileged rural students. Further, this project seeks to enhance the learning tools available to teachers in high-poverty, rural districts in Southeast Ohio. Service to the regional public K-12 schools is central to the mission of the College of Education, and faculty in the College of Engineering are also interested in serving our region's people. Specifically, this project is aimed at establishing after-school programs in robotics and related subjects to encourage disadvantaged students to pursue scientific, higher educational careers. Project personnel focus on ensuring these after-school projects will be self-sustaining; this will require several years, the first year funded by Ohio University's internal grant program called "The 1804 Fund" in 2001, and the remaining years by external agencies. Though our focus is on after-school programs for disadvantaged students, an important means to achieving our goals is the unique infusion of service learning components into Education and Engineering undergraduate courses at Ohio University; group projects and students in these courses support the proposed goals.