Fairfield University’s School of Engineering has been awarded a $20,000 E2 Energy to Educate grant from Constellation, in support of student STEM, energy, and sustainability projects. The grant will support Fairfield’s SuSTEMability, an initiative that will engage Fairfield engineering students and faculty with educators from Cesar Batalla School and the Wakeman Boys and Girls Club in STEM education.

“Fairfield University is grateful to be the recipient of this generous award through Constellation’s E2 Energy to Educate grant,” said Andres Leonardo Carrano, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering. “Our SuSTEMability program will create an inclusive pipeline of mentorship — engaging faculty, undergraduate students, and local youth — to inspire and prepare the next generation for further study and future careers in engineering and the sciences. The opportunity to extend the scholarship, talent, and resources of our School of Engineering to the greater community, particularly the underserved, aligns with our School’s commitment to expand student engagement in the engineering professions, and to cultivate global citizenship.” 

The vision of SuSTEMability is to "inspire and prepare tomorrow’s scientists and engineers to seek systematic solutions to key energy, environmental, and sustainability-related problems at both secondary education and undergraduate levels." The program will allow middle-school students to acquire technical skills, hone their critical thinking skills, learn about basic statistical techniques and the fundamentals of data gathering, and develop an understanding of science and engineering concepts.

During the program, students will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities involving solar energy, carbon footprint calculations, and alternative energy solutions, which will culminate in a design challenge where they will learn about benchmarking. The program will conclude with a poster presentation in June at Fairfield University.

At the School of Engineering, students are taught to be engineers with a higher purpose; they are not only trained in technical skills and knowledge, they are challenged to think about the impact they can make in the community. 

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Elif Kongar, PhD, explained, “Engagement in high-quality science education is critical to attracting students to the sciences, yet these enrichment opportunities are seldom accessible to populations presently underrepresented in STEM. SuSTEMability will address both these issues by providing students from diverse backgrounds an understanding of sustainable engineering through age-appropriate enrichment opportunities that illustrate our role, as individuals and as a community, in building a climate-safe renewable future.” 

Learn more about the School of Engineering at fairfield.edu/engineering.