.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College plan to work together to increase the number of Iowa students earning engineering degrees.

The schools have received a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to assist them in encouraging more students to take science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses through its Student Enrollment and Engagement through Connections program. ISU will receive $1.5 million of the grant, with the remainder going to DMACC.

“This National Science Foundation program will make a bold statement that students who choose not to start at Iowa State from high school can begin a pre-engineering curriculum at Des Moines Area Community College,” said Frankie Santos Laanan, co-director of ISU’s Office of Community College Research and Policy.

Laanan said an NSF report found that 40 percent of all students who graduated in 1999-2000 with bachelor’s or master’s degrees in engineering had attended a community college. Twenty-two percent of those same engineering graduates had associate degrees.

The program’s goal is to boost the number of Iowa State students earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering by 120 per year, beginning in 2012. The College of Engineering currently has 4,445 students enrolled in its undergraduate programs.

The project also seeks to increase the percentage of women earning undergraduate engineering degrees from the current 15 percent to 20 percent, and to increase the percentage of minorities earning engineering degrees from 9 percent to 10 percent.

At DMACC, the project is expected to increase enrollment of students in science and technology courses, which should increase the number transferring to ISU’s College of Engineering.

To accomplish those goals, ISU plans to redesign the first-year curriculum for engineering students and make some courses available to DMACC students via distance education technology. The schools will also develop and enhance advising and mentoring programs and establish a statewide recruiting and outreach network. r