Past Funded Projects

In August 2016, the Baker-Polito Administration announced over $250,000 in grant awards to support the Commonwealth’s Regional STEM Networks. The fiscal year (FY) 2017 grant for the Regional STEM Networks included incentives for collaboration across regions as well as for aligning focus areas with STEM Advisory Council priorities, listed above.

Grant Recipients

Berkshire County & Pioneer Valley | $65,000
MA College of Liberal Arts will serve as the host of the Regional STEM Network, and will collaborate with education, community and industry partners across the Berkshire County and the Pioneer Valley, including Holyoke Community College.

Boston & Metro North | $65,000
The Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) will join with the Metro North Regional Employment Board as the lead institutions to coordinate and promote STEM activities among education, community, and industry leaders in Boston and in the communities in Metro North, including Revere, Everett, Chelsea, and Lynn.

Central Massachusetts & Metrowest | $50,000
Worcester Polytechnic Institute will serve as the lead institution to promote STEM education in Central Massachusetts while also collaborating with Framingham State University, community partners and employers in Metrowest to expand the reach of that Regional Network.

Southeast Massachusetts & Cape Cod | $80,000
Bridgewater State University and Cape Cod Community College will collaborate to build a coordinated Regional STEM Network.

@Scale Grant Program

The STEM Advisory Council created the @Scale program in 2010 in order to focus public and private resources on a set of high quality STEM pipeline projects that are aligned with the goals outlined in the Commonwealth’s STEM Plan. In 2015, the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council continued to endorse eleven projects for continued @Scale funding.

Project	Lead Partner	Award	Numbers Served
Advanced Placement Full Project Description	Mass Insight	$50,000	9,227 Students 804 Teachers
Advanced Robotics Initiative Full Project Description	Quinsigamond Community College	$50,000	Information on communities served coming soon
Big Data Full Project Description	BATEC	$89,280	20,541 Students 298 Faculty
BioTeach Full Project Description	MassBioEd Foundation	$50,000	10,000 Students 100 Teachers
Future City Full Project Description	Metro North Regional Employment Board	$75,000	248 Students 55 Teachers
Gateway Project Full Project Description	Museum of Science	$50,000	50,195 Students 103 Teachers
Increasing Accessibility to Algebra & Geometry for All Students (IAAG) Full Project Description	UMass Medical School's Regional Science Resource Center	$33,549	2,200 Students 22 Teachers
Science from Scientists: during School In-Class STEM Enrichment Program Full Project Description	Science from Scientists	$50,000	6,200 Students 137 Teachers
STEM Pathways Full Project Description	MCLA	$75,000	Information on communities served coming soon
Strengthening Pre-K Mathematics Teach and Learning Full Project Description	Boston Public Schools	$58,695	225 Students 30 Teachers
Western Regional Partnership for Advanced Manufacturing Full Project Description	McCann Vo-Tech	$62,000	Information on communities served coming soon

Fiscal Year 2014 Funding of the Regional STEM Networks

@Scale Phase III & IV Projects

The Governor’s STEM Advisory Council selected five projects under Phase III and IV of @Scale for endorsement and funding.  Phase III and IV were the last two phases of a four phase process to create a portfolio of projects aligned to the state STEM goals and which cover the spectrum of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects across learning levels.  Phase III specifically addressed STEM goals 2 and 3 of STEM Plan 2.0 (student achievement and skilled educators) in elementary and middle grades and Phase IV addressed STEM goals 1 and 3 (student interest and skilled educators) in pre-k education programs.  The STEM Council awarded a total of $292,244 among the five projects.  The five selected projects are shown in the grid below:

@Scale Phase III & IV Project Descriptions

Strengthening Pre-K Mathematics Teaching and Learning

The Boston Public Schools (BPS) received an award of $58,695 to support its proposal to scale up a successful pre-K mathematics program, Building Blocks.  The project, “Strengthening Pre-K Mathematics Teaching and Learning: A Boston K1DS Collaboration between the Boston Public Schools and Boston Community-Based Organizations”, expands from the 2,300 pre-K students in BPS to eventually serve over 6,500 low-income at risk 3 and 4 year-olds in over 200 community-based organizations (CBO). 

This grant begins the process with 14 CBO instructors, their assistants, and their directors in 10 CBOs to create the foundation for a city-wide expansion by providing a program of professional development.  Seven BPS pre-K teacher leaders supply coaching support consisting of co-planning, co-teaching and debriefing mathematics lessons.  All professional development, including classroom-based coaching support, is carefully documented to ensure that this effort can be scaled up into the remaining CBOs in Boston and into other pre-K settings across the state. The project is also carefully evaluated in order to document its design features, its impact on pre-K student engagement and educator effectiveness, and its sustainability over time, thus contributing to the existence of transformative, system-wide, and sustainable improvements that are consistent with the goals described in the Massachusetts STEM plan.

During School In-Class STEM Enrichment Program

Science from Scientists (SfS) received an award of $50,000 to expand its successful “During School In-Class STEM Enrichment Program” to two first-time partner schools in new locations, Winthrop and Plainville.  The funding enables SfS to provide in-class enrichment to 475 new students and allow as many as 16 classroom teachers to enroll in their Professional Development Program.  Student goals include improving students’ attitudes in STEM by working with every student in the classroom, using real, charismatic scientists, and building mentoring relationships.  The measure for this goal will be an increase in the numbers of students who score proficient or higher on the STE MCAS.  Student comprehension is tested throughout the year through the use of pre- and post-quizzes allowing for immediate feedback.  

Teacher effectiveness is addressed by offering PDPs to incentivize teachers to learn science content and integrate the Enrichment Program into their classrooms.  SfS provides each of their participating school teachers a “Teacher Prep” document that accompanies each of their 80+ lessons.  This content-rich document:  a) identifies which MCAS standards are addressed by the lesson, b) lists key vocabulary, and c) links identifies to free online resources such as videos, audio, interview transcripts, FAQs, games, and articles specifically chosen to help increase teacher content knowledge about the featured STEM topic.

Zero Robotics

Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership (MAP) received an award of $75,000 to scale up its Zero Robotics program beyond the Boston area.  The program is described as a fun, flexible yet rigorous summer STEM program for middle school students with a key element of targeting under-served and under-represented youth.  Over 5-weeks during the summer, students work in teams to learn about computer programming, robotics and space engineering while gaining hands-on experience working with and coding SPHERES (Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites).  The program culminates in a tournament where each team competes for a spot to operate and race a SPHERE satellite against other teams aboard the International Space Station (ISS). 

A full curriculum has been designed to support in-school and out-of-school educators in the use of Zero Robotics.  MAP uses @Scale funds to develop a comprehensive teacher training program to train perspective Zero Robotics educators and their regional partners across each of the seven Regional STEM networks. Additionally, MAP gathers evidence that shows the impact of summer learning opportunities on student interest, academic growth and teacher efficacy.

Future City – Competition Working Cities Expansion Project

Future City is a team based transformative educational program designed for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in which students imagine and design cities of the future and explain the underlying technologies and design principles that would make their city possible. Students create both physical scale models and virtual models (utilizing SimCity software), prepare presentations/Q&A responses, and write research documents as part of their engineering design process.  Although all STEM disciplines are used in the competition, the emphasis is on engineering. The Future City Program addresses Student Academic Achievement (Goal 2) and Student Interest at the elementary and middle school levels. The program also addresses Educator Effectiveness (Goal 5) by providing teaching and learning tools to educators on STEM topics such as free learning blocks, as well as free seminars and trainings.

The program goals include:  1) Adding 10 more school teams to the NE Future City Regional Competition from the Working Cities cohort over the 2013-2014 competition period; 2) Evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of the competition program in these new school partners;  3) Creating materials for schools so they can attract new participants, volunteers and sponsors for continued Future City participation after the grant period has ended; and  4) Growing the existing NE Future City Competition program infrastructure so it can effectively support the needs of the Working Cities participants.

The Working Cities to be served under this grant are: Chelsea, Everett, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Revere, Salem, and Somerville.

Increasing Accessibility to Algebra & Geometry for All Students (IAAG)

IAAG is a teacher professional development project, which offers foundational math content and pedagogical strategies for general education, inclusion and special education mathematics teachers of grades 5 through 10.  It has been especially helpful for teachers in “high needs” districts. It strengthens teachers’ understanding of concepts and relationships among concepts within various domains including Operations and Algebraic Thinking; Equations and Expressions; Functions; and Geometry. Teachers learn universal design strategies and techniques to increase accessibility of rigorous mathematics to a broad range of learners.

Since 2006, sixteen sections of IAAG have been implemented throughout the state impacting 480 teachers and over 10,000 students in Revere, Worcester, Pittsfield, Springfield, Wilmington, Fitchburg, Leominster, Salem, and Southbridge with some schools holding repeat trainings.  The IAAG training has been vetted and approved for both the Massachusetts’ Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) Professional Development Institute (PDI) and the District and School Assistance Centers (DSAC). The RSRC is a preferred vendor for the state to offer professional development.

Fiscal Year 2013 funding of the Regional STEM Networks

@Scale Phase I Projects

In May 2012, the STEM Advisory Council approved the selection of the following set of projects under Phase I of @Scale. The STEM Council awarded a total of $350,000 in @Scale grants.

Project	Lead Partner	Award	Private Match	Numbers Served Per Semester
BioTeach Project description	MassBioEd	$50,000	$150,000	Not available at this time
The DIGITS Project Project description	DIGITS	$50,000	$218,000	Not available at this time
Mass Math + Science Initiative Project description	MassInsight	$50,000	$120,000*	30 teachers; 500 students
Project Lead the Way Project description	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	$50,000	$282,500	680 students; 14 teachers
Science Transfer Initiative Project description	Massasoit Community College	$50,000	$156,069	6000+ students
Advanced Robotics Initiative Project description	Quinsigamond Community College	$50,000	$98,500	300 students
The Gateway Project Project description	Museum of Science	$50,000	$150,000	80 teachers

* The private matching ratio is less than the required 3:1 private/public ratio, but additional amounts have been promised.

@Scale Phase II Projects

In December 2012, the STEM Advisory Council approved the selection of five projects under Phase II of @Scale. The STEM Council awarded a total of $428,000 in @Scale grants. These projects address goals 4 and 6 of the state STEM Plan:

• Post-Secondary Graduation Rate Improvement
• Workforce Development (including projects that engage vocational technical schools, community colleges, and public universities)

Project Descriptions

BATEC’s “Big Data” program provides training to students as well as displaced and incumbent workers seeking to upgrade or develop their knowledge and skills in information technology. BATEC plans to expand their programming to Holyoke, Northern Essex, Quinsigamond and Roxbury Community Colleges.

UMass' “ABLE4STEM” is a program focused on underrepresentated minorities to promote associate and baccalaureate degree completion at all four UMass undergraduate campuses and the Commonwealth's 15 community colleges.

Central Massachusetts WIB’s “STEM Power” project re-engineers Career Center practices, procedures and policies to provide a sector-based approach to nearly all facets of the services offered to dislocated workers including job-seeker STEM pathways outreach, orientation and education; STEM-related pathways career counseling; training; placement for job seekers; and STEM employer engagement and support. Sixteen local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) and their One-Stop Career Centers are partners in this project.

McCann Technical School’s “Western Regional Partnership” is a workforce development project in the area of advanced manufacturing. The educational institutions that make up the STEM Western Regional Partnership currently offer Chapter 74-approved technical programming in advanced manufacturing, precision manufacturing and machine tools.

MCLA’s “STEM Pathways Project” (SSPP) promotes student success with the goal to increase graduation rates by providing strategic and successful initiatives which address students’ academic, experiential, and career awareness interests. MCLA’s SSPP employs a STEM retention plan, starting with activities for freshman and continuing through senior year. Administered through the MCLA Center for Student Success and Engagement (CSSE), the program delivers enhanced academic support, advising, and career planning, and marshals the efforts of both the academic affairs and student affairs divisions.

On March 10, 2009 the Department of Higher Education announced five mini-grants totaling $75,000 through the STEM Pipeline Fund for the following projects:

On February 15, 2008, the Board of Higher Education announced $3.2 million in three-year grants through the STEM Pipeline Fund for the following projects.

Andover Public Schools, with partners Brookline Public Schools, Worcester Public Schools, and Northeastern University, will collaborate and expand upon existing engineering curriculum to further implement and integrate the curriculum across districts and grade levels. Students will have access to visits to employers through partners Wyeth and Philips Healthcare.

Boston University, with partners Northeastern University and Wheelock College, receives funding for the for inquiry-based learning opportunities for elementary and middle school teachers from seven area school districts. The professional development will be focused around the theme of Green Energy. Teachers and students will also take part in visits to colleges and employers.

CONNECT, with partners University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Fall River Public Schools, will hold two week-long summer camps on sustainability and biotechnology with an emphasis on inquiry-based learning.

Framingham State College, with partners the Greater Framingham Community Church, Metro South/West Regional Employment Board, and Olin College, will continue to scale up the LIFT program, to give regional teachers externship opportunities at local STEM companies, and will develop the Saturday STEM Academy. Based on the MIT SEED Academy, the Saturday STEM Academy will bring students and parents to the campuses of Olin College and Framingham State College for hands-on STEM projects, college awareness, and college role models. In addition, the students will tour regional industry locations.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, with partners Berkshire Community College, Williams College and regional school districts will produce a series of STEM career awareness and professional development activities including an after-school family STEM program, visits to colleges and employers, and the continuation of the Starlab professional development program. Several of the programs will become STEM Destinations as part of the Berkshire Compact’s Berkshire Passport program, available to students in Berkshire County beginning in third grade.

Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, with four other industry associations:MassMEDIC, MassBioEd, The Engineering Center, and the Massachusdtts Networks Communications Council, will develop a statewide STEM awareness campaign, a STEM Ambassadors program, and a guidebook for how business and school districts can most effectively work with each other. The collaborative will also sponsor a research report on student motivation.

Northern Essex Community College, with partners Lawrence Boys and Girls Club,Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, Middlesex Community College,Museum of Science, and school districts Billerica, Chelmsford, Methuen, andReading, receives funding to implement the Engineering is Elementary curriculum in four school districts and to support the Viva Latinas program for young women to learn about computing technology.

University of Massachusetts Amherst, with partners Greenfield Community College and Smith College, receives funding to continue the STEMRAYS program, an after-school science program for districts in Franklin County and currently funded through NSF. The after-school programs connect teachers and students in grades 4 through 8 to topics such as weather and climate, air quality, and sustainable energy. Through theFranklin/Hampshire Regional Employment Board, participating teachers will have access to externships at regional employers; participating students will have access to career awareness activities.

University of Massachusetts Lowell, with regional school district partners, will expand its existing after-school DESIGNLAB program for middle school students and teachers. The DESIGNLAB program seeks to teach mathematics and science concepts using inquiry-based learning and to increase the interest in STEM subjects.

University of Massachusetts Medical School, with partners Colleges of the Worcester Consortium, EcoTarium, Fitchburg State College, Mount Wachusett Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and school districts in Fitchburg, Lunenberg, Worcester and elsewhere will develop a communications plan to increase the awareness of STEM careers and career pathways among middle school students, parents, teachers, and guidance counselors in Central Massachusetts. Students will have access to role models and career mentors and will participate in the development of student-friendly messages about STEM.

On January 8, 2007, the Board of Higher Education announced $1.7 million in three-year grants to the following Regional PreK-16 Networks through the STEM Pipeline Fund.

Berkshire STEM Pipeline Network

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and regional partners

• Got Math? for elementary and middle school students and teachers to understand the application of math to life and the workplace.
• A STEM Fellows project, mirrored after a successful project run by the Northeast Pipeline Network in 2004-2005, to provide six teachers in the region with tailored professional development each year. Participating Fellows will create curriculum modules to implement in their classrooms.
• Additional support of the Berkshire STEM Resource Center, which began with the 2004-2005 grant as a regional resource for supplies and resources for teachers.
• Support for the western Massachusetts middle and high school state science and engineering fairs.
• Regional career fairs run by the Berkshire Tech Prep Consortium and hosted by Berkshire Community College.

Cape and Islands STEM Pipeline Network

Cape Cod Community College and regional partners

• Advanced Student Leadership Program (ASLP), provides high-achieving 7th and 8th grade students in the Cape Cod Collaborative's school districts with a three-week residential program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy during the summer. ASLP focuses on STEM instruction and enhancing student leadership skills. Teacher training will also be provided as part of the program.
• Junior Tech, produced by the Cape Cod Technology Council, is a suite of after school and summer programs for middle and high school students with the goal of generating interest in STEM careers.

MetroWest STEM Education Network (MSEN)

Framingham State College and regional partners

• The Biotech Career Pathways Program is sponsored by Norfolk County Agricultural High School in collaboration with MassBay Community College, Tufts Veterinary College and Mass General Hospital to give hands-on exposure for students in the care and handling of animal used in health care research laboratories. This program draws from five public school districts within the region that are serviced by Norfolk Agricultural High School with 75 students (predominately female) and 15 teachers or guidance counselors directly involved.

Central MA STEM Pipeline Network

University of Massachusetts Medical Center and regional partners

• Assessing and Addressing Physical Science Misconceptions is a professional development project for teachers of grades three through eight. Through the five-day course, teachers will learn about these common misconceptions and practice instructional activities to help students dispel misconceptions.
• Growing STEM From the Ground Up is a collaborative effort among regional K-12, higher education and industry representatives to identify and develop additional ways to address regional STEM education and workforce needs.

Northeast STEM Pipeline Network

University of Massachusetts Lowell and regional partners

• The STEM Fellows program works with teams of middle school teachers from 15 districts. The STEM Fellows will participate in a tailored series of professional development activities, supported by regional partners: Salem State College, Northern Essex Community College, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Museum of Science, EduTron, and the Northshore Workforce Investment Board. Also required is the development of a strategic action plan, to be implemented by the teachers with the support of the districts. The Network developed and produced this program in 2004-2005 and will bring back 15 STEM Fellows from the previous cohort to serve as STEM Leaders.

PV STEMNET

University of Massachusetts Amherst and regional partners

• Emerging Scientist and Mathematician Summer Camps will be held each summer for middle school students, rotating among Springfield College, American International College and Holyoke Community College. The camps will involve hands-on learning in different science and math content areas, including forensic science, engineering/robotics and animal science.
• Biotechnology Summer Camp for Girls will be held for middle school girls to generate excitement in science and build self-confidence. The summer camp will be held at Gateway Regional High School for one week during the summer and at another location for a second week.
• The Engineering is Elementary (EiE) curriculum, developed by the Boston Museum of Science, will be implemented in the Holyoke Public Schools. Teachers in grades three to five will receive professional development to provide them with the skills to implement the EiE curriculum.
• The STEM Teacher Mentoring program will provide targeted mentorship training to veteran STEM teachers to prepare them to mentor new STEM teachers. The summer workshop will be held at Westfield State College.
• The WGBY Media Integration program will deliver a series of STEM multimedia workshops to teachers in the region.

Southcoast STEM Pipeline Network

CONNECT and regional partners

• STEM Teacher Connections Learning Communities will work with cohorts of 15 to 20 teachers in four districts: Attleboro, Brockton, Fall River and Plymouth. Each teacher will receive graduate-level professional development in STEM areas.
• STEM Connection to Teaching Success to provide MTEL test preparation assistance and to recruit teachers into the region’s alternative pathways to teacher licensure.

Regional PreK-16 Network Grants

Berkshire County STEM Pipeline Network 

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and regional partners

Got Math? was an out-of-school mentoring program reaching 60 fourth grade students in three elementary schools in Berkshire County. The program was designed to individualize math instruction and combine instruction with hands-on experiments.

Central MA STEM Pipeline Network 

University of Massachusetts Medical Center and regional partners

Making Connections in STEM involved teams of math and science teachers from four diverse districts and their students, higher education faculty, math and science professional development experts, and industry mentors. The Network completed a 3-credit STEM Data Analysis course with 28 teachers.

Greater Boston East Pipeline Network

Northeastern University and regional partners

The Boston Children’s Museum’s Waterfront Learning utilized Boston Harbor as a rich STEM resource for students and teachers. MassPEP’s (Pre-Engineering Program) Discovery Labsupported underserved elementary and middle school students to increase success in science, math, engineering, and technology. Northeastern’s Boston Summer Advanced Math continued to prepare underserved urban high school students for their calculus course in their senior year in high school.

Greater Boston West Pipeline Network 

Framingham State College and regional partners

MassBay Community College’s SolidWorks Workshops promoted computer graphics, technology, science and math in Massachusetts high schools and regional vocational schools. The MetroWest Center for Excellence hosted after-school science and engineering clubs for middle and high school girls. 

Northeast STEM Pipeline Network 

University of Massachusetts Lowell and regional partners

The STEM Fellows program enrolled 38 middle school and early high school mathematics, science and technology teachers in eight school districts in a program to participate in existing regional STEM programs and share the new content and tools with their classrooms and districts. Each Fellow develop an individual professional development plan. 

PV STEMNET 

University of Massachusetts Amherst and regional partners

Engineering pathways mapping project organized available career and educational options into a guide book of coherent engineering/technician pathways for parents, guidance counselors, teachers, and students to better inform career and college choices; threeengineering/technology career fairs were also held. Two new summer camps were created to increase students' awareness of STEM careers. Six Saturday Explorations in Science and Engineering combined hands-on activities, lab work and visits to labs. Three summer content and pedagogy institutes and two academic-year seminars were held for K-12 and high school teachers.

Southeast Alliance

Bridgewater State College and regional partners

Project INVENTION facilitated project-based, real-work related activities for teachers and students mentored by industry and higher education. The Advanced Studies and Leadership Program provided project-driven content instruction in STEM subjects during a four-week, summer, residential program for 8th and 9th grade, high-achieving students from districts in the Cape Cod Collaborative. Three previously approved but wait-listed schools received assistance from the MassBioEd Lab Awards to remodel and refit science laboratories.

Other Grants

Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative Phase II 

University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute

CITI is a public/private partnership to promote information technology across the curriculum and prepare graduates to participate, lead and innovate in the knowledge-based economy of Massachusetts. CITI funded 14 subgrants for teacher professional development and pre-service course development projects.

Engineering is Elementary (K-6 Technology/Engineering Tie-In Lessons)

Museum of Science

This project, originally funded by the Intel Foundation, developed seven technology and engineering units in the elementary science curriculum and professional development for teachers in support of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

STEM High School Internships

Metro South/West Regional Employment Board

This proposal developed a statewide STEM internship program for high school students among seven Regional Employment Boards. Nearly 1,000 students were placed in STEM internships in 2004-2005.