Framingham State secures $1M STEM grant

Photo/Google Framingham State University

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By Grant Welker

Framingham State University has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to increase STEM education.

The university, which announced the funding on Wednesday, was one of only 33 colleges across the country to receive a grant for the year. Other Massachusetts colleges receiving funding were UMass Amherst, Brandeis University, Wellesley College and Wheaton College.

The funding will cover a five-year initiative at Framingham State called Transparent Pathways that is aimed at helping first-generation and under-represented students in science, technology, engineering and math. The program will include approximately 60 STEM faculty from Framingham State and MassBay Community College in a development program that Framingham State says will create "a lasting culture of inclusive excellence in the STEM curriculum and faculty ranks."

“This is an incredible opportunity for the University to enhance its longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Framingham State President F. Javier Cevallos said in a statement. “Science and technology are crucial to the state’s innovation economy, but there is still a large achievement gap for first-generation and minority students training in these important fields.”