Bayer USA Foundation Awards $279,000 Grant to Exemplary STEM Education Diversity Program
12/15/2008
Grant to MESA Expands Reach of Bayer’s Making Science Make Sense Program in Bay Area
Pittsburgh, December 11, 2008 --On December 11 Greg Babe, President and CEO of Bayer Corporation, announced a major three-year grant, totaling $279,000, from the Bayer USA Foundation to sustain a MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievement) Center in the East Bay of California focusing on underserved middle and high school students. The Center will serve around 11,000 students in 53 schools, across six districts with a rigorous hands-on math/science curriculum and college/career preparation program proven to increase their changes of achieving high goals academically and professionally.
Established in 1970, MESA has been named as one of the most innovative public programs in the country by Innovations In America Government, a project of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Ford Foundation, and is a winner of the Presidential Excellence Award For Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
“We view this investment in the MESA Center as an elegant complement to Biotech Partners, the hands-on biotechnology school-to-career program for high school and community college students that Bayer created with the City of Berkeley in 1992,” noted Joerg Heidrich, Berkeley Site Head and Senior VP Product Supply-Biotech.
The grant was announced at a national science education forum convened by Bayer in San Francisco: “Bridging the Diversity Gap: Introducing STEM Industries to K-12 Best Practices Programs.” The conference was hosted by Greg Babe, President and CEO of Bayer Corporation and Chairman of the Bayer USA Foundation, and moderated by Dr. Mae Jemison, the nation’s first African American female astronaut who is also a physician, a chemical engineer and Bayer’s long-time national spokesperson for our award-winning Making Science Make Sense program.
The MESA grant will provide Bayer with an array of additional opportunities in the coming years to support STEM education in California through employee volunteering in MESA events, career awareness days for students, summer internships and partnering with local leaders to advance science education and workforce development programs in schools throughout California.
