On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it had awarded Research Triangle Institute a $190 million agreement to provide STEM education and outreach to communities across the country.
The award, the Defense Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Consortium (DSEC) Cooperative Agreement, would provide the Research Triangle Institute and its consortium of more than 25 partners with funding to carry out programs the DOD finds foundational to building a 21st century workforce able to meet evolving defense challenges, officials said.
“Outreach is incredibly important for the Defense Department, and we continue to seek out the best and brightest minds across the nation,” Dr. Aprille Ericsson, assistant secretary of defense for science and technology, said “Our men and women in uniform depend on talent and expertise within our science and technology workforce to out-innovate our peer adversaries, and I consider development, recruitment, and retention of STEM talent to be one of my top priorities.”
The funding will be used to implement STEM programming over the course of 10 years that will increase “the permeability of ideas into its science and engineering workforce,” officials said. The partnership with the institute and its partners will deliver sustainable and scalable programs that provide hands-on learning experiences for students.
Under the agreement, RTI will address five fundamental elements for pre-K-12 students with a qualified team of organizations that will amplify awareness of STEM opportunities within the DoD, as well as open students up to working with DoD scientists and engineers. RTI will receive an initial award of up to $37 million over a two-year base period, and possibly up to four two-year option periods of between $37.5 and $39 million per period.