San Diego State University has become a strong partner with America's veterans, and its latest project may be its most ambitious yet. With the help of a new grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations in Engineering Education, Curriculum, and Infrastructure (IEECI) program, the SDSU College of Engineering will launch two new programs aimed at preparing veterans for careers in engineering, according to the SDSU NewsCenter.
The $200,000 San Diego SERVICE (Success in Engineering through Internship and Career Experience) Program will connect veteran students in engineering at SDSU with year-round internships in engineering firms in the San Diego area. Additionally, it will support advanced math courses offered to active duty servicemembers in San Diego to augment their military training and experience with the math background they will need to thrive when they transfer to SDSU.
The SDSU NewsCenter notes that NSF grant will provide for calculus and trigonometry courses through San Diego City College (SDCC). SDCC already has courses in place for the military, some of which actually take place on military sites and bases. Based on this new NSF award, SDCC has already opened an online course in trigonometry this semester, so that servicemembers will be prepared to take pre-calculus on base through the San Diego SERVICE program in the Spring.
The second part of the NSF grant will fund an internship coordinator position for the college whose role will be to work within the industry to create and identify positions for these student veterans. Already Qualcomm has shown interest in the program and is holding an orientation for potential SDSU interns, according to the SDSU NewsCenter.
Engineering students make up five percent of the student population at SDSU, and nearly twenty percent of the student veterans on campus are engineering and computer science students, according to the SDSU NewsCenter.
