CAL STATE L.A. SELECTED TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS HP INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION GRANT
$260,000 grant aims to improve student interest and achievement in
engineering, computer science, and information technology
Los Angeles, CA, July 13, 2009 – California State University, Los Angeles was selected as one of 10 two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States to receive a highly competitive 2009 Hewlett-Packard (HP) Innovations in Education grant, which is designed to address the need for more students to pursue and complete high-quality, high-tech undergraduate degree programs in engineering, computer science, information systems, and information technology.
Cal State L.A. will receive an HP Innovations in Education award package of HP technology, cash, and professional services valued at more than $260,000.
Committed to attracting and retaining students from traditionally-underrepresented communities in engineering and computing fields, Cal State L.A. will establish an HP Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) that provides a multi-functional infrastructure in order to expose CSULA students to a more active and student-centered learning experience; to create cross-disciplinary design/research experience for undergraduates; to bring fun and inspiring engineering activities to high school/middle school classrooms; and to build a long-lasting leadership that changes the teaching pedagogy in engineering education community.
The HP-CLC will include an HP blade server to provide remote lab access, a dedicated HP mobile classroom to facilitate collaborative project-based and inquiry-based learning, as well as lab space to host hands-on project/research activities.
According to Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Jane Dong, the HP project team leader at Cal State L.A., “The University is enthusiastically committed to supporting this project in all respects as it is clearly consistent with the University’s mission and strategic plan to continue to develop and enhance student learning, to provide excellence in curriculum and instruction, and to expand the use of wireless technology for teaching and learning.”
Other CSULA project participants include Keith Moo-Young, dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology; Peter Quan, vice president and chief technology officer; Nancy Warter-Perez, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Deborah Won, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; Huiping Guo, assistant professor of computer science; Jiang Guo, associate professor of computer science; and Mauricio Castillo, assistant professor of technology education.
Worldwide, HP is investing more than $20 million in mobile technology, cash and professional development as part of the global 2009 HP Innovations in Education grant initiative. This initiative follows HP’s five-year, $60M investment in HP Technology for Teaching grants to more than 1,000 schools and universities in 41 countries. During the past 20 years, HP has contributed more than $1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other nonprofit organizations around the world.
“Innovation is key to expanding education opportunity – and HP is privileged to collaborate with educators around the world who are committed to exploring the exciting possibilities that exist at the intersection of teaching, learning, and technology,” said Jim Vanides, worldwide program manager for HP Global Social Investments. “Emerging evidence from the last five years is very positive – excellent instruction combined with the right technologies is measurably improving student academic success.”
More information about the 2009 HP Innovations in Education initiative and other global social investments is available at www.hp.com/go/grants.
More information about Cal State L.A. is available at www.calstatela.
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As one of six colleges at Cal State L.A., the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology is divided into five departments––the Department of Civil Engineering; the Department of Computer Science; the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and the Department of Technology. The College fosters a unique study environment where faculty and staff are pledged to the success of students; an environment where the average class doesn’t exceed 30 students and professors know their students by name, not number. Committed to study programs that educate through theory, practice and experiment, Cal State L.A. graduates highly skilled engineers, computer scientists and technologists who are prepared to face the rapidly changing demands of industry, business, education, and government. The College offers a hands-on curriculum and early research opportunities to prepare students for advanced studies and a fast-paced work environment. The NASA University Research Center is the first and only one of its kind in California. www.calstatela.edu/academic/ecst/
Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 210,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu