Pennsylvania schools benefit from STEM donations

Bosch, Siemens contribute to help advance software use, get more women in manufacturing

By Bob Vavra, Content Manager, CFE Media July 16, 2014

Manufacturing suppliers continue to reach out to donations to colleges and universities with donations of money and software to help address the continuing manufacturing skills gap and the need to deliver better educated manufacturing professionals as soon as possible.

Two such grant announcements were made July 16, and both were targeted at schools in Pennsylvania. In particular, Penn State will receive donations from both Robert Bosch LLC and its Bosch Rexroth subsidiary, and from Siemens.

Bosch made a donation to assist two programs at Penn State. The Women in Engineering Program Orientation (WEPO), provides orientation for first-year students entering Penn State and features year-round mentoring and leadership programming. The Lehigh Valley Emerging Engineers program supports low-income students in their preparations to qualify for Penn State.

Siemens also made a donation of PLM software to Penn State to give students the ability to design and develop products on the same software used in many manufacturing facilities.

“The manufacturing industry in America is on the rise and it is being transformed by a software revolution that is enhancing productivity, increasing efficiency and speeding time to market,” said Chuck Grindstaff, president and CEO, Siemens PLM Software, in a press release. “This revolution requires a highly trained workforce. With this grant, Penn State will be able to integrate world-class PLM technology into its curriculum, so that its students are even better prepared for co-op assignments and for high quality manufacturing jobs.”

Bosch also made a donation to Lehigh University to support its CHOICES (Charting Horizons and Opportunities in Careers in Engineering and Science) Summer Camp. CHOICES is an outreach program designed to introduce young women in middle school to the benefits of engineering careers. The grant will specifically allow for increased and sustained capacity of the CHOICES camp and provide scholarships for girls from Broughal Middle School.

Another Bosch grant was presented to Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, to support a summer camp for seventh- and eighth-grade students, professional development for counselors and math/science teachers, as well as STEM Career Awareness night and Girls in Engineering Awareness Day for high school age girl.

Both grants were made from the Bosch Community Fund in its efforts to support STEM educational efforts. Management at Bosch Rexroth in Bethlehem, PA reached out to different institutions in the Lehigh Valley and letting them know about the grant process.

“Bethlehem senior management is very excited with the programs selected at these schools. We will be looking for ways to engage Bosch Rexroth associates to help implement these programs,” said Andreas Torell, vice president and commercial plant manager, Bosch Rexroth.