Palo Alto-Based STEM Organization Gets $5K Grant For Expansion

PALO ALTO, CA — A Palo Alto-based STEM organization will receive $5,000 from the nonprofit group Society for Science to expand their programming into the East Bay.

Future Advancers of Science and Technology (FAST), a program where Stanford University graduate students mentor local high school students in science and engineering, is planning to expand in the Bay Area.

“The support of the Society for Science through the STEM Action grant will be instrumental in enabling passionate students and mentors to embark on projects that inspire lifelong mentorship and set foundations that change the course of students lives, supporting expansion of a brand new FAST program in the East San Francisco Bay Area at schools we would otherwise be unable to support,” the organization said in a statement. “The impact of this support is a huge enabler for the program and will spread outwards well beyond the students and mentors who will be able to take part thanks to the Society this next year and over many years to come.”

Through the program, students from predominantly low-income high schools visit professional scientist and engineer mentors. They brainstorm projects and carry out experiments, eventually presenting them at local science fairs, according to FAST’s website.

The grant is part of a $165,000 commitment by the Society for Science to fund 38 STEM organizations throughout the country. Three other Bay Area-based organizations received grants.

“If the United States is going to stand as a world leader in science and technology and keep pace in innovation with the rest of the world, we must prioritize investing in grassroots organizations that are doing the hard work on the ground, to engage and educate science learners of all backgrounds,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. “What’s most inspiring to me about these organizations is that they are identifying growth areas in their local communities and enacting real change.”

Click here to view the full list of recipients.