Community Foundation Awards $40,000 Grant to Support Project Fibonacci STEAM Conference

The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties has awarded a $40,000 grant to the Project Fibonacci® Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization based in Rome, NY, to be used in support of the upcoming Project Fibonacci® STEAM Conference this summer.

Community Foundation President/CEO Alicia Dicks and Senior Community Investment Manager Jan Squadrito presented the ceremonial $40,000 check to the Project Fibonacci® Foundation’s Founder Andrew Drozd, STEAM Outreach Coordinator Dan Kostelec, Senior Grant Writer Pam Mandryck, Innovation Camps and Technology Advisor Andrew Burger, advisor and 2018 Steering Committee co-chair Robert Bojanek, and Educational Programs Advisor and 2018 Steering Committee Chair Maria Smith.

The $40,000 grant will be used to provide $25,000 of scholarships to underserved students to be able to attend this summer’s STEAM Conference. The remaining $15,000 will support the Project Fibonacci® STEAM Ambassador Program and related promotional materials.

The Project Fibonacci® STEAM Conference is a week-long event (July 22-28) for high school sophomores through college juniors, focused on hands-on, interdisciplinary STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) that is both team- and project-based. The STEAM Scholars attending the Conference will gain access to exclusive tour locations such as Saab, the Masonic Medical Research Lab, and the Utica Psychiatric Hospital (Old Main). The students will also be learning directly from some of the most prominent STEAM educators in the country, who will also be speaking directly to the public as part of the Project Fibonacci® Speaker Series – including medical anthropologist Dr. Brandy Schillace, astrophysicists Dr. Max Tegmark and Dr. Alex Filippenko, author and expert on the Internet of Things Michael Miller, and mathematician Dr. Mario Livio.
For more information about the Project Fibonacci® STEAM Conference & Speaker Series (July 22-28), the Innovation Camps, the Professional Development Day featuring scientists and engineers from DARPA and NASA in October, or the Women & STEAM Symposium to be held at Utica College on International Women’s Day in March, please call 315-334-1163, email info@projectfibonacci.org or visit www.projectfibonacci.org.