Shown visiting a 2025 edition of KidsTech are Gwen Sanders (center), senior community relations manager within National Grid's Customer and External Affairs, and Laura Spenceley (second from left), dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services. National Grid continues as a long-time sponsor of the hands-on sessions that support the journey of participating schoolchildren and SUNY Oswego students building their teaching skills.
A $150,000 grant from National Grid to SUNY Oswego will support rising student researchers and expanding the university’s popular KidsTech program that provides hands-on learning opportunities.
The partnership includes a $90,000 grant that will help up to 10 promising SUNY Oswego students with summer research, lab materials and college costs.
Through high-impact summer research and creative projects across many disciplines, SUNY Oswego nurtures meaningful student-faculty collaborations. Students engage in rigorous scholarly and creative activities, contributing to cutting-edge research and developing the skills needed to succeed in an evolving workforce.
The grant will help students attain publications, conference presentations and external grant applications while providing real-world research and creative experiences that enhance their academic development and professional readiness.
On an institutional level, this program supports students staying in school, earning degrees and finding post-graduation success by deepening student engagement and intellectual curiosity through hands-on research experiences.
The partnership reinforces the roles of National Grid and SUNY Oswego as drivers of economic and social progress through engagement with faculty to meet local, regional and global challenges.
The challenge grant and Oswego’s efforts aim to create a pipeline of talent for high-demand fields, particularly in science, technology, education and mathematics (STEM), critical to the region’s economic growth and clean energy goals.
By investing in scholarships, STEM pre-college programming and hands-on research opportunities, this initiative improves the lives of students while supporting National Grid’s goal of building the skilled and diverse workforce the region will need to address the challenges — and seize the opportunities — of the future.
KidsTech expansion
The grant also includes a $60,000 investment to expand the Technology Department’s KidsTech program by creating additional impactful tracks using the template of the popular program.
The on-campus KidsTech programming currently runs in the fall and spring semesters, with technology education students working with professors to offer technical programming to schoolchildren from kindergarten through sixth grade around the region. The fall 2024 edition served 76 students, while the spring 2025 program served 89 students.
The grant allows the current model of KidsTech to be scaled up to include curriculum co-constructed in math, science and the arts delivered by SUNY Oswego students studying to teach in those areas. In addition to supporting the future success of several more SUNY Oswego students, the expansion will allow the traditional KidsTech program to service around 30 more schoolchildren each semester.
The grant also supports bringing KidsTech programs into local schools, piloting in an Oswego County school. KidsTech first started robust online sessions in 2020, and this funding will allow the team to recalibrate these remote sessions into sessions that will bring technology education, math, science and the arts directly into classrooms.
SUNY Oswego’s College of Education, Health and Human Services leadership will coordinate and pilot the program by embedding these lessons and hands-on activities in an Oswego County school to be determined.
This year's KidsTech spring program will begin in April. For more information or registration, visit sites.google.com/oswego.edu/kidstech.
"We believe early, hands-on exposure to STEM is one of the most powerful ways to open doors for young people and strengthen the future of our communities," said Dr. Robert Simmons III, vice president of social impact for National Grid, and the executive director of the National Grid Foundation.
"This $150,000 investment in SUNY Oswego’s KidsTech program is about sparking curiosity, building confidence and ensuring students of all backgrounds can see themselves as innovators and problem-solvers," Simmons said. "By supporting programs like KidsTech, we’re helping to create equitable pathways into education and careers that will drive long-term opportunity and economic vitality across Central New York.”
Ultimately, this proposal seeks to transform lives, ignite possibilities and build a more prosperous and equitable Central New York.
About National Grid
National Grid delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 20 million people across New York and Massachusetts. The donation aligns with the company’s priorities to build the energy workforce of the future by enabling access to STEM education resources for all children.
This grant to SUNY Oswego came through National Grid's Social Impact and Community Engagement initiative.