Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the university of maine will…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the university of maine will continue running the successful residential summer institute for girls to train the sustainable engineering leaders of the future (self) from 2024 to 2028. Our sustainable engineering leaders of the future (self) program addresses two areas of educational need: 1) creating student experiential learning opportunities, and 2) recruiting and retaining girls from rural maine in stem careers. To achieve this, faculty members from the college of natural sciences, forestry, and agriculture (nsfa), the maine college of engineering and computing (mcec), and cooperative extension at the university of maine (umaine), will collaborate with a local forest product industry partner (timberhp by go lab) and agricultural partner (wyman's) to host a short residential summer institute program on umaine's campus for five years. Maine is the most rural state in the nation, and approximately 57% of maine's k-12 student population attends schools in rural areas that are remote, distant, or on the fringe. Our program will target twenty (20) sophomore girls per year from rural counties in maine, such as washington, piscataquis, franklin, and aroostook counties.through the program, the girls willengage with university professionals and resources, explore various stem programs offered by nsfa and mcec, and participate in hands-on learning with real-life applications of stem. The program will also focus on advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by incorporating students from minority, immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking families. The program will raise awareness of forestry and agricultural stem programs, increase enrollment and retention at umaine, address workforce shortages in maine, and reduce gender disparities in certain stem programs. The self program will promote stem education and career opportunities for maine's future sustainable engineering leaders.