A STEM-focused college readiness program that will support more than 4,000 aspiring engineers
February 17, 2025, Niskayuna, New York – The GE Aerospace Foundation today announced the expansion of its Next Engineers college readiness program to the New York Capital Region to advance the program’s goal of encouraging young people to pursue careers in engineering.
With today’s announcement, the GE Aerospace Foundation, alongside leadership and volunteers at the GE Aerospace Research Center in Niskayuna, will now move forward with identifying a community partner to be announced in late 2025. The community partner will help young people discover their inner engineer with classes expected to begin in early 2026. Students who graduate from the program and pursue engineering degrees will be eligible for scholarships.
“We welcome the expansion of Next Engineers to New York’s Capital Region, which employs more than 700 GE Aerospace researchers in the area,” said Joe Vinciquerra, General Manager and Senior Executive Director of GE Aerospace Research. “The Capital Region is a thriving technology hub of top engineering universities and research institutions, and is the home of the nation’s first industrial research lab inspired by Thomas Edison and started by GE. I cannot think of a more fitting location to inspire and teach the next generation of engineers than right here.”
New York’s Capital Region was selected using a range of criteria, including GE Aerospace’s employee and facility footprint and anticipated engagement in the program. Volunteers from the GE Aerospace research team in Niskayuna, with deep experience working hand-in-hand with the U.S. government, customers, academia, and industry partners, will help students learn critical engineering concepts and skills.
“We are immensely proud to announce our Next Engineers program in New York’s Capital Region,” said GE Aerospace Foundation President Meghan Thurlow. “Nearly 22,000 students around the world have experienced the power and possibility of engineering through our Next Engineers program and we look forward to reaching even more students with this program expanding to the New York Capital Region.”
In 2024, the GE Aerospace Foundation committed $20 million through 2030 to expand Next Engineers. This commitment will help bridge the gap between students in middle school to college who are interested in engineering careers. The Next Engineers program currently serves students in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Greenville, South Carolina, in the United States, along with Johannesburg (South Africa), Staffordshire (United Kingdom), Warsaw (Poland), and the recently announced site in Bengaluru (India).
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