The Nevada Public Education Foundation and Wells Fargo Bank have awarded a $3,000 grant to the University of Nevada, Reno’s Girls Math & Technology Program of the College of Education. A Wells Fargo “Grant A Wish For Your School” mini-grant, the money will be used to purchase a computer for the program and to assist with the development of a Web site.

The main component of the program is a five-day, residential summer camp held on the University campus for approximately 60 northern Nevada girls, July 19 – 24. The goal is to encourage the girls, who will enter the seventh of either grade this fall, to pursue mathematics and technology majors when they attend college. The program is designed to increase the girls’ knowledge, skills and confidence in mathematics and technology. The program began in 1998 under Lynda Wiest, the program’s director and a professor at the University’s College of Education.

Wiest and her team will use the computer to maintain the databases for the camp. With the grant, the team will also be able to continue work on the program’s long-term goal of developing a Web site for the program. The Web site will serve as a year-round support system in relation to math for girls, their parents, educators and researchers. Program participants and their parents will have the opportunity to use an electronic bulletin board through the Web site to access helpful information and activities. There will be links to other Web sites that help and support girls in math and technology, providing access to current articles and research on the subject.

“We are extremely grateful to the Nevada Public Education Foundation and to Wells Fargo Bank for their support,” said Wiest. “Our program continues to grow and is now so popular that a lottery is held to determine the allocation of the 60 spaces available for the camp. With the funding we have just received for the computer and Web site, we will not only be able to serve the girls that participate in the summer program, but we will also be able to make available valuable resources to all visitors to the Web site.”

For more information on the program, call (775) 682-7849.