USC School of Pharmacy Receives Toyota USA Foundation Grant to Expand Successful STAR Program

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24, 2005 -- The University of Southern California School of Pharmacy has been named the recipient of a $145,836 grant from the Toyota USA Foundation. The award will allow for expansion of a successful science discovery outreach program to elementary grade students at Murchison Elementary School in East Los Angeles.

The Toyota grant will provide funding to implement the first two years of a projected nine-year K-9 innovative and reproducible science, math and engineering curriculum being created by USC scientists, engineers and their research laboratories initially for Murchison students.

The Toyota funding coupled, with a National Science Foundation award, is allowing the school's Pharmaceutical Sciences Center to bring its Science, Technology and Research (STAR) program, a collaboration between the University and Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School, to elementary school children and their teachers.

"We are delighted to join in this science education outreach program with such an illustrious higher education institution as the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy," said Atsushi "Art" Niimi, president of the Toyota USA Foundation. The award was one of four awards that the board of directors voted to fund during the Foundation's semiannual meeting in Washington, DC recently.

"Toyota is committed to the communities in which we do business and education is an important part of this. The STAR program has already successfully demonstrated that inner city high school students, when presented with relevant, hands-on experiences under the mentoring of professionals, scientists and engineers, can excel in science. This award will allow those experts to bring this education initiative to an often overlooked audience when it comes to learning math and science -- inner city elementary grade students."

"The Toyota USA Foundation grant will bring world renowned University of Southern California scientists and engineers and their graduate students to the classrooms of one of this nation's poorest and lowest performing elementary schools," said Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton, director of the STAR Program. "This dynamic and innovative program incorporates science and engineering principles into the entire elementary school curriculum. Through this intensive immersion experience, young minds come to an in-depth understanding of science and engineering. Most importantly, children come to feel at ease when applying science and engineering principles to the every day facets of their lives, both inside and outside the classroom," she added. "We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to fulfill, at Murchison Elementary School, the Toyota USA Foundation's mission of providing a science and math enrichment education to children whose desire to learn is only limited by the investment in their schools."

In the STAR program, gifted high school students and USC scientists work side by side, conducting research in the School of Pharmacy laboratories. In the expanded program, USC experts in elementary and science education, with Murchison educators, USC scientists and community experts, are designing grade-appropriate science, math and engineering modules that fit within the elementary science curriculum. To date, three modules have been developed into science curricula for 3rd - 5th grade classes.

In addition to the USC School of Pharmacy, other organizations receiving a Foundation award were the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI; Keep America Beautiful, Stamford, CT; and The Earth's Birthday Project, Santa Fe, NM.

The Toyota USA Foundation is a $40 million charitable endowment created to support innovative education programs serving kindergarten through 12th grade in the United States, with special emphasis in the areas of mathematics and science. For additional information about the Toyota USA Foundation, visit http://www.toyota.com/foundation .