Friday, June 7, 2013

3M Backs STEM Education Effort In Texas

3M is looking to help encourage underrepresented minority and female students in Texas to pursue careers in engineering and science, with a new effort launched with the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME), the company said Thursday. 3M said it is funding a new "science-=on-wheels" effort, a 40-foot trailer called the Trailblazer II, which promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for Texas youth. 3M, which has an "innovation center" in Austin, said the trailer is the second in the program, to help it reach more students in Texas. 3M said it expects the science trailers to reach more than 200,000 students in Texas during the next decade. 3M has two locations in Texas, including an Research and Development office it opened in Austin in 1983, and a manufacturing plant.