The University of California, Davis has announced that the UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education, or C-STEM, has received a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program.

According to Noah Pflueger-Peters of UC Davis, the Ujima Girls in Robotics Leadership Project is a free, hands-on engineering and robotics program for Black girls in middle and high school.

The project is led by C-STEM Director and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Harry Cheng, Faheemah Mustafaa, assistant professor in the UC Davis School of Education, and Teresa Aldredge, former president of the Umoja Community Education Foundation and a senior advisor to the C-STEM Center.

In the first three years, the program aims to host more than 50 camps with 2,000 students. Cheng’s vision is to build a pipeline that keeps participants involved from their first camp through college.

The organizers hope to hold the first camps in summer 2022. Click here to learn more.