Y-12 accepting applications for STEM classroom grants

Oak Ridge, Tenn.— To kick off Engineers Week, which is held annually during the last week in February, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) announced Monday that it is once again sponsoring five $1,000 grants for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in East Tennessee classrooms. The goal of the grants, designated for grades K–12, is to foster advancement of STEM activities in the classroom and to help develop Y-12’s future workforce. CNS manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex.

This is the second year that Y-12 has offered STEM classroom grants. Projects which received awards in 2022 included an aquaponics teaching lab, a rainwater runoff design challenge, and development of a curriculum in pneumatics, which involves engineering using pressurized air. “It is so exciting to see the variety of projects that teachers dream up to enhance STEM learning in East Tennessee,” said Y-12 Education Outreach Specialist Kristin Waldschlager. “CNS is honored to support their efforts, and to see how they will inspire students who could grow up to work at Y-12.”

Public and private school teachers or school administrators in the following East Tennessee counties may apply:

Grant application information is available on the Y-12 website. Applications will be accepted through March 20, 2023. Educators who are immediate family members of Y-12 employees are not eligible to apply for or receive a grant.

Y-12 staff will evaluate the grant applications and make recommendations for grant allocations. Once a final decision is made, five grants of $1,000 each will be made payable to the individual school and will be dispersed to the teacher or administrator in accordance with school protocol.

Grants will be awarded in April, and all funds must be spent by July 31, 2023.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a single contract for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. CNS member companies include Bechtel National, Inc.; Leidos, Inc.; ATK Launch Systems, Inc.; and SOC LLC. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on performance excellence and the imperatives of safety, security, zero defects, and delivery as promised.

For more information on each site, visit www.pantex.energy.gov or www.y12.doe.gov. Follow Pantex on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Follow Y-12 on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

CONTACT
Kathryn King, APR
Communications
Office (865) 315.5996
Kathryn.King@pxy12.doe.gov