Students presenting their project at MESA day (photo by Kim Nguyen)

Oct 26, 2021 | Oregon – Oregon MESA, which has operated out of Portland State for 36 years, is expanding thanks to new funding.

MESA trains middle and high school teachers to help underrepresented students excel in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) through after school classes, invention competitions, family engagement, community outreach events and experiences connecting with industry and college partners. Until now MESA has predominantly served students in the Portland metro area and Salem, but is now poised to take its proven STEM teaching model to even more teachers and students.

“MESA is such an important program to address the issue of underrepresented students in STEM. By addressing the problem earlier in the pipeline, MESA is able to both increase awareness of STEM degree opportunities, and, more importantly, provide students with the confidence and motivation to pursue STEM in college,” says Wu-chi Feng, Interim Dean of PSU’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. “This expansion is great for both Portland State University and the state of Oregon.”

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