TALPA: Technology Applications and Learning toward Professional Achievement

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0125272 Schroeder This award is to the University of Alaska-Anchorage to support the activity described below for 36 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF 0179).PartnersThe partners for this activity include the University of Alaska-Anchorage (Lead Institution), University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Hawaii-Manoa, University of Washington, Ford Motor Company, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Boeing Company, Kimberly Clark, Alcoa, IBM Kirkland-Washington, Bureau of Reclamation, Microsoft, Flour Daniel, Alaska Technical Center, Northwest Arctic Borough School District, White Swan High School, Confederate Bands and Tribes of the Yakama Nation, NANA/DOWL Engineers, and NANA/Colt Engineers.Proposed ActivitiesThe effort will bring computer technology to remote communities, provide high school students with a vision of a career in science and engineering, connect students with professionals in industry and academia, provide industrial partners with a technologically trained workforce, and develop the enabling infrastructure necessary to sustain the effort long-term.Proposed InnovationThe academic institutions will establish a modern computer laboratory with space, utilities, and Internet access in a remote rural community in each state in the partnership. High school juniors and seniors in a college-ready high school curriculum will be targeted. These students will be given state-of-the-art hardware and software training. Students will have summer internships with partner companies where they will be paid cash as well as scholarship money with any of the partner universities. The students will attend a summer bridging program the summer after graduation from high school to prepare them for college. The industry partners provide $500,000 annually for the bridging program.Potential Economic ImpactThe program will provide hundreds of high school students with access to technology-based education and jobs. These students are from sparsely populated rural states, and most are Indigenous Americans. The economic benefits result from a highly skilled workforce for the industry partners.Potential Societal ImpactThe targeted students are Indigenous Americans from rural Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington. The program can be replicated for any region with an indigenous population. More than 300 students have "graduated" from the internship program in the past. The current award will provide needed resources to attract more students, provide more computer facilities, and interact with more industrial partners.