As you may remember our organization, Chance to Change Lives (CCL-US), is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization dedicated to empowering students from underserved backgrounds. Our flagship program -STEMnetX is designed to provide meaningful learning experiences and STEM career development opportunities for undergraduate students and talented high school students  

Our STEMnetX program supports the efforts to bridge some gaps in learning and funding opportunities for students at small colleges and emerging research institutions (ERI)  where the resources have been exacerbated by the COVID impact. In the last 18 months, we have invested over $100,000 towards enhancing experiential learning opportunities which include, 

·        ·        ·        ·        ·         Through our ongoing commitment to workforce development in the region, we have significantly enhanced high-impact experiences of nearly 100 college and high school college students. One of the projects we funded was titled ” STABILIZATION OF COAL MINE OVERBURDEN THROUGH VEGETATION “. This work was conducted at Washington and Jefferson College by an undergraduate student , Jonathan Grabowski who worked with Professor Jason Kilgore and his team to design and implement an experimental planting of woody plants to encourage deeper overburden stabilization coal mine and to increased soil organic matter production.   As Jonathan reports ” The Appalachian Region, from Tennessee to western Pennsylvania, has been greatly affected by surface and underground coal mining. The excess material from these coal mines was historically and conveniently dumped close to the mine, typically within valleys near streams. This overburden material has a low pH, low nutrient levels, and heavy metals, all of which prevent plants from growing on the dumped material. This material is loose and friable, which means that erosion into lower elevations, like streams, is common. Given the physical nature of the material, stream water quality and aquatic organisms can be affected”. Part of Jonathan’s work was to figure out ways to stabilize the run-ff from abandoned coal mines through vegetation. Our organization funded this project in summer 2022 to enable Jonathan to determine 4-year plant success – cover, abundance, and photosynthetic efficiency – by species and soil treatment; and initiate a new revegetation experiment with trees near the Horn Run mining area in southern Washington county.  “Through the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program, more students joined to help collect and record data, as well as maintain the site. In November 2022, the team secured an extended lease to conduct their research at the same site in southern Washington County, which included planting 50 tree seedlings from five native and locally-occurring species in a complete random design on the overburden within the space of the existing vegetation experiment, provided half of the trees with pelletized lime and wood mulch, and measured the height of every planted tree”. Together with several W&J students and volunteers, students like Jonathan are making big impacts in south-west PA reclamation of soil degraded by mining. 

We are thrilled to support such Science and Engineering projects that bring about positive impacts on our region. Through our STEMnetX initiative we are focused on empowering and provide support to train future generation of STEM leaders in the region.

Please let me know if you need any more information to set up an interview. I would love for our organization and its funding opportunities to be highlighted so that the work we are doing to empower regional talent can reach more students.