CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — $2.4 million sound like a lot of money. That's the amount that Texas A&M Kingsville was just awarded to help expand their engineering program.
“The grant is mainly intended to help Hispanic students in particular students who come from the South Texas region,” said Alam.
Professor Mohammad Alam says half of the engineering class in Kingsville is Hispanic, and many are first generation college-goers.
The $2.4 million will fund tutoring, mentorship, workshops, gateway courses for underclassmen, and promote hands on learning through extracurricular activities.
“The goal is to make sure that once they come here they have all the tools and all the help that they need so that they successfully complete all the degree programs that we have,” said Alam.
Alam says the school plans to share the wealth with middle and high school students interested in pursuing a career in engineering.
“Involving them in various workshops, S.T.E.M. camps and similar activities,” said Alam.
The money will be budgeted and spread throughout the next five years. The university says it plans on tracking the amount of success the extra programs have on its students.
“Once they come to our program we are going to monitor their activities from freshman all the way to the senior year and see what fraction of those students are successfully completing the degree program,” said Alam.
