Motorola Foundation awards innovation grants to MESA

The Motorola Foundation has awarded $134,000 in Innovation Generation grants to MESA programs in San Diego and Fresno that will help stimulate pre-college students’ interest and academic performance in math and science.

San Diego State University’s MESA Center received a $100,000 grant to replicate MESA’s highly successful Mathematics, Physics, Technology Institute (MPTI) for middle and senior high school teachers. MPTI uses technology to integrate math and physics learning and increase collaboration between science and math educators. The Motorola grant will allow up to 60 San Diego teachers to participate.

Thanks to a $34,000 Motorola innovation grant, CSU Fresno’s MESA program has been able to almost double the number of middle and senior high school students in its Saturday Academy program. The grant helps fund four academies, which use hands-on projects to stimulate student interest in math and science projects, then use the experience to reinforce learning of math and science principles. Some 380 middle and senior high school students are now involved with Fresno’s Saturday Academy.

“Motorola’s partnership with MESA will cultivate the next generation of skilled scientists America will need and ultimately help improve our country’s future workforce,” said Eileen Sweeney, director, Motorola Foundation. “We applaud the work that MESA is doing to ignite an interest in science, math and engineering at an early age, particularly for girls and the underserved.”

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