SUNY Potsdam Receives $25,000 Grant from Arconic Foundation

Arconic Foundation Grant to Support STEM Educational Outreach Programs at SUNY Potsdam

Potsdam, NY (08/05/2024) — SUNY Potsdam was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Arconic Foundation, to support educational outreach in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The funds will help SUNY Potsdam to fulfill the changing needs of K-12 students and educators in the region, as they work to meet new state STEM standards.

"It is important to provide opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to all students, especially in a world today driven by innovation and technology. The funding we provide to SUNY Potsdam helps us achieve this. It helps students develop those critical skills needed in various industries including manufacturing," said Arconic Foundation Ambassador Naresh Singh.

Thanks to the funding, SUNY Potsdam is finishing renovations to a new Surface Processes Lab in Timerman Hall, alongside a new Environmental Science Lab currently under construction. The new labs will house applied learning tools focused on environmental issues, including stream tables. These spaces will benefit visiting teachers and K-12 students attending field trips and educational events on campus, helping them to meet new state learning standards for the sciences, which emphasize the environment and how surface processes, such as the movement of water, influence biological, geological and human systems.

"The specially designed stream tables have color-coded sediment that sits in a basin. Water is pumped over the surface to form stream channels, and students can test how water flow impacts the transport of sediment, the stability of buildings, ecosystem development, and so much more. With the Arconic Foundation funding, we will be able to purchase a second stream table so that we can have groups of 20 to 25 students working in the space at the same time. In the end, these new spaces in Timerman will be important and unique resources for education on environmental issues," said Dr. Page Quinton, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. "Current SUNY Potsdam students will also benefit from the stream tables, as they will use them in labs and are also typically the ones leading K-12 students through hypothesis testing and experimentation, providing them with valuable communication and mentoring experiences."

The Arconic Foundation funding will also support additional educational resources to enhance the applied learning spaces in Timerman Hall, including large-format prints of Earth's surface features, including river deltas, glaciers and dams. Along with the department's rock, gem, mineral and fossil collections, its replica dinosaur fossil, and other educational resources like an outdoor rock garden, the space is designed for campus and community educational programming.

This is the third Arconic Foundation grant that the College has received. With past awards, SUNY Potsdam faculty have been able to host Careers in STEM events with 1,000 middle and high school students from across Northern New York and even from New York City. They have also led professional development programming for K-12 educators and offered public science educational events, such as the College's extensive eclipse celebration activities for both campus and community.

For more information about the STEM fields at SUNY Potsdam, visit www.potsdam.edu/stem.

To learn more about giving to SUNY Potsdam, visit www.potsdam.edu/giving.

Media Attachments