UCOR now accepting STEM education mini-grant applications

 First grade students at Claxton Elementary School use “TubeLox” building materials purchased with UCOR mini-grants award funds to study the engineering process of designing a car.

Oak Ridge, Tenn., Feb. 6, 2023 –Attention East Tennessee teachers: United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) is accepting applications for our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Education Mini-Grants through Monday, February 27. Our grant awards are open to K-12 educators in nine East Tennessee counties to support a STEM project or related arts project with a STEM aspect. You can apply for up to $1,500 for a STEM or STEM-related project in your classroom, team, or school.

Teachers and schools in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union counties (including city systems in those counties) are eligible to apply. This year marks the 12th consecutive year that UCOR has awarded mini-grants. In 2022, 38 mini-grants were awarded to teachers in 28 schools.  The projects funded by those awards include:

  • Apply to Fly, Claxton Elementary School, Anderson Co.
  • Under-desk Exercise Bikes, Bearden High School, Knox Co.
  • Hidden Figures—Coding Across the Curriculum, Midway Middle School, Roane Co.
  • Building Learners to Leaders, Horace Maynard Middle School, Union Co.
  • Chicken Egg Incubating Project, Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School 

The full list of 2022 awards is available on the UCOR website.

Grants are available in three levels:

  • Single classroom single classroom: $750
  • Multiple classrooms: $1,000
  • Entire school:$1,500

The program does not limit the number of submissions a school may submit.

 First grade students at Claxton Elementary School use “TubeLox” building materials purchased with UCOR mini-grants award funds to study the engineering process of designing a car.

Applications should focus on STEM relevance. In addition to traditional STEM projects, a related arts teacher might apply for a grant for students to explore the lives of scientists, mathematicians, etc., or for materials to develop problem-solving or other critical thinking skills. The online application, along with information about proposal and evaluation criteria, is available at ucor.com/minigrants.

UCOR will accept applications online until 5 p.m. on Monday, February 27, 2023. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Winners will be notified no later than April 6, 2023.

For more information about the UCOR Education Mini-Grants Program, contact Shannon Potter, UCOR Communications, at (865) 576-7476 or ucorminigrants@orcc.doe.gov.

UCOR is the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s lead environmental cleanup contractor. The company is a partnership between Amentum, Jacobs, and Honeywell. The company’s 2,100+ workers are dedicated to safely reducing environmental risk on the Oak Ridge Reservation while helping DOE’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration continue their important missions. Learn more about the company at UCOR.com.

About Brad Jones

Brad is the Owner/Operator of BBB TV 12, and has been with the company since August of 1996. Brad is a 1987 graduate of Coalfield High School and a 1995 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Communications. He won the 1995 broadcast production student of the year award. Brad worked at Shop at Home, Inc. a home shopping network that was located in Knoxville, TN from 1993 - 1995 and then at Via TV (RSTV, Inc.) from 1995 - 1996. After some freelance work in Nashville, Brad joined the BBB Communications staff in August of 1996. A short stint at WVLT TV as a news photographer was in 2001, but he continued to work at BBB TV as well. Brad is married to Nicole Jenkins Jones, a 1990 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, who works at Oak Ridge Gastroenterology and Associates in Oak Ridge. They have 3 kids, Trevor Bogard, 27, Chandler 22, and Naomi 13. On December 12, 2013 they welcomed their first grandchild, Carter Ryan Bogard. Brad is also the assistant boys basketball coach at Coalfield High School for the past 11 years. In 2013-14 the Yellow Jackets won their first district title since 1991 and just the 4th in school history.

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