GALLUP Navajo Technical University will use a grant from
the National Science Foundation to begin work on a bachelor's degree
program in environmental engineering.
NTU announced in a press release that it received almost $2.5 million
from the NSF to increase science, technology, engineering and mathematics
curricular offerings and research capacity by introducing the new
program, which will center on uranium mine remediation and mitigation.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are
more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation due to
heavy mining activity from 1944 to 1986.
The university's release states the grant, provided under the NSF's
Tribal Colleges and Universities Program, will help support the
proposed degree program for five years as a curriculum to align
with research goals focused on the remediation of uranium mines.
The program must go through an approval process by the Higher Learning
Commission and the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology
but NTU expects to start offering courses for the program this fall
in Crownpoint.
|
Navajo Technical University
student Cyrus Leopold Norcross tinkers with an LED light project
in the school's Electrical Engineering Fundamentals I course
in 2015. NTU received a National Science Foundation grant
this month to expand its engineering department. (Photo: Courtesy
of Navajo Technical University)
|
"I think it's a great opportunity. It's a great opportunity for
the students of the Navajo Nation and Navajo Technical University,"
Industrial Engineering Professor Harry Whiting II said in the release.
The university has an associate of applied science degree program
and Bachelor of Science in environmental science and natural resources.
Also available are programs that focus on pre-engineering, engineering
technology and chemical engineering technology.
"We are building a great engineering school here. We are small,
but we have great professors, and I'm really proud of what we have
done here," Whiting said.
|