FREDERICK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the second year in a row, the Battelle National Biodefense Institute will give $50,000 in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) challenge grants to Frederick County Public School teachers.
“Over the last decade, BNBI has been a peerless partner to support STEM education,” said FCPS Superintendent Dr. Theresa Alban. “Last year’s inaugural challenge grants brought forward innovative and compelling ideas in STEM education from our teachers and students. We are looking forward to this year’s competition and to the creativity it will spark.”
Last year fifteen of the grant applications came from elementary schools, five from middle schools and eight from high schools.
“Once again FCPS teachers and students will have the opportunity to develop and submit their best STEM education ideas,” said BNBI President, Dr. George Korch. “If selected, they can receive up to $5,000 to make that idea a reality.”
During the month-long open competition FCPS will offer a grant writing seminar that will be webcasted to help ensure that every teacher has the opportunity to capture their best idea. The completed grant applications will need to be submitted by Thursday, April 25. The winners will be announced and recognized at the Wednesday, May 22 FCPS Board of Education meeting.
During the 2018 competition, FCPS teachers and students submitted 28 STEM grant proposals. The 13 winning proposals came from the following 12 schools: Ballenger Creek Elementary, Ballenger Creek Middle, Brunswick Middle, Butterfly Ridge Elementary, Emmitsburg Elementary, Frederick High, Gov. Thomas Johnson High, Linganore High, Middletown Elementary, Middletown Primary, Myersville Elementary and two from Orchard Grove Elementary.
The FCPS/BNBI STEM partnership was established in 2009 with the long-term goal of getting more students interested in and better prepared to major in math, the hard sciences or engineering in college. Since its inception BNBI has directly gifted $433,000 to FCPS, and BNBI staff have committed thousands of hours of time to assisting curricula development, classroom instruction, and STEM activities outside the classroom.
The Battelle National Biodefense Institute, LLC is a non-profit Maryland company. BNBI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Battelle. Since 2006 BNBI has operated and managed the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, located on Fort Detrick, for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center.