LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon University is set to streamline artificial intelligence and technology advancement into rural neighboring communities, largely in part due to two grants the university received in 2024. Following an extensive grant process, the university has secured the technology workforce ready grants totaling $1,587,976.

The source of the funds come from the Higher Education Coordinating Committee from the state, which oversees all public higher education institutions. The grants are part of workforce ready funding directly from the Oregon Legislature.

The grants, which are designed to accelerate STEM-focused study areas, are part of a plan to provide students with AI literacy as well as practical IT skills in the classroom and through focused internship offerings. Training opportunities for STEM faculty also is a goal.

Darren Dutto, dean of EOU’s College of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Health Sciences, said equipment upgrades and IT internship opportunities are being rolled out through the funding. Students will eventually be tasked with facilitating artificial intelligence integration into the systems being used at EOU, said Dutto.

“With the explosion of AI into our everyday world, what we’re finding from our computer science faculty is that students in computer science need to have a really good handle on how artificial intelligence works,” Dutto said.

Closing the gap

The first grant amounts to $1,142,977 in support of the “Acquisition of Computer and Technical Skills project” at EOU. During the next two years, cybersecurity training for 70 computer science students and information technology internships for six students. This initiative offers hands-on information technology network support and AI-integrated cybersecurity training to supplement academic learning.

Dutto said a divide between academic institutions and local communities exists, but this work is designed to dilute that.

“That’s not what we want to be, we want to be part of the community,” he said.

The training and skills students learn is a way to make inroads with local businesses, Dutto said. He said an emphasis is placed on students taking portable skills back to their rural communities to support local and underserved communities — and their businesses.

The initiative has a niche focus to bridge the gaps between education and engaging with workforces operating in neighboring communities.

“Students are getting the experience and our local, rural communities are getting some expertise in, to do things that they may not otherwise easily be able to get done,” Dutto said.

He said a major longterm objective is to advance technology in a sustainable way for the university and students while nurturing relationships with local partners.

STEM majors are of high value, but the volume of students not qualifying for them due to limited pre-college education is a pattern that is increasing, Dutto said. Academic disciplines are becoming less skeptical and more embracing of AI, he explained, being ethically literate in evolving technology is a priority of the STEM department.

“I think that STEM majors are highly valued,” Dutton said. “I also think that they’re hard. And we know that to solve climate issues, to solve our environmental issues, these are all going to require a wealth of STEM knowledge.”

The grant is funding six EOU student interns in IT and AI integration with faculty training and additional cybersecurity training. Computer science students are a key target. The initiative also involves collaboration with local businesses to enhance technical services in rural communities.

The grant, sourced from the Higher Education Coordinating Committee of Oregon, is expected to be fully operational by spring term, with cybersecurity tools and AI training in progress. The roll out of utilizing the grant money is immediate though, Dutto said, and the intention is to sustainably integrate technology education into the community.

Bringing AI training to teachers

The second portion of the grant amounts to $444,999 with a vision to expand the Greater Oregon Science Technology and Math Mobile Maker lab effort. GO STEM is a nonprofit that directly collaborates with institutions such as EOU.

The second installment will be used to hire a “technology workforce exploration educator” to offer technology training in AI to teachers across seven counties in Eastern Oregon as an add on from the portable lab fronted by GO STEM.

David Melville, executive director of GO STEM, said the initiative is plugged into EOU but their services will continue to cover seven Eastern Oregon counties, including 42 school districts and more than 29,000 students in the region K-12 and upward.

“We’ll be hiring an AI and technology specialist educator, and they’ll be going out into these seven counties to work with our teachers and our students to be able to incorporate AI into the classroom,” Melville said.

Low income and underserved communities are said to be a major focus for the grant money and technology development.

“We’re rural, we’re very small,” Melville said. “And so we wanted to bring high tech AI opportunities to students in these communities that don’t have stop lights.”

Melville said the workforce ready emphasis of the grant is to help instructors effectively use AI as a tool. Improving curriculums and lesson plans is something educators will learn to do through AI to keep up with the curve in urban schools and counties.

“As students learn to use AI, just like we all learn to use Word or Google Cloud, like these technologies that were very scary when they first launched, for some users it’s a tool to strengthen your work rather than be scared of its applications,” Melville said.

GO STEM has noted success since launching its Mobile Maker Lab in 2023, which enabled them to reach communities and deliver their resources from the portably. The mobile lab was about reaching smaller rural schools and being equipped with resources on board.

“If we’re going to be providing STEM education,” Melville said, “we have to get out into these communities.”

GO STEM serves:

• Seven Eastern Oregon counties: Morrow, Umatilla, Wallowa, Union, Baker, Grant, Harney.
• 42 school districts.
• 109 schools with total enrollment of 30,198 students (2023 data from the Oregon Department of Education).

Since the launch of the Mobile Maker Lab in March 2023, GO STEM has:

• Held 160 school, community, and professional development events put on by our MML team.
• Connected with over 26,000 students, educators, and community members.
• Drove 9,243 miles.

Source: www.eou.edu/tag/go-stem