UND’s Prakash Ranganathan receives grant to promote engineering at tribal schools

The North Dakota Community Foundation (NDCF) awarded University of North Dakota Assistant Professor Prakash Ranganathan a $2,100 grant to promote engineering to tribal and local area students. Ranganathan, a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering , will use funds from the grant to purchase supplies and cover travel expenses for outreach initiatives to under-represented students in the field of engineering. Ranganathan, other electrical engineering faculty and students will travel to five tribal high schools and colleges in the region to conduct outreach activities on engineering and math activities. “The activities will hopefully inspire young students to pursue a career in high technology,” Ranganathan said. “We also are planning to travel to local schools and encourage women to consider careers in the engineering fields, where they are under-represented.” The NDCF was founded in 1976 as a way of helping meet some of North Dakota’s needs in the areas of education, charity, art, science and health. The Foundation manages more than $60 million in assets and has given more than $58 million in grants throughout North Dakota. “We are pleased to provide funding to this program, which offers opportunities and encouragement to North Dakota students who might not normally consider this challenging, important and lucrative field of study,” President & CEO of NDCF Kevin Dvorak said