GE Aerospace Foundation announces an additional $20 million commitment to Next Engineers that will expand the program through 2030. The GE Aerospace Foundation officially launched on May 2, and will build on the more than 100-year legacy of the GE Foundation.
When Nigel Adjei-Mensah starts his engineering studies at the University of Cincinnati this fall, he’ll do so with a sense of direction and goals he developed while meeting and working with professional mentors. A senior at Princeton High School in Cincinnati, Adjei-Mensah participates in the Next Engineers: Engineering Academy, a three-year college readiness program for STEM students that includes immersive design challenges and career coaching by GE Aerospace employees.
Next Engineers will also help cover the cost of college for Adjei-Mensah, because graduates of the program who go on to pursue an engineering degree at an institution of higher education receive a scholarship. “The program has opened me up to a lot more options, so I’m not as tunnel-visioned,” he says. “We get to learn a lot of different things that engineers do over the course of their day. They’re able to give us tips and tricks on how we can be better engineers — not just now, but in the future as well.”
He also values the open-mindedness and diversity that Next Engineers aims to foster. “I feel like more diversity means bringing in people of different genders and cultures and ethnicities, because people from different backgrounds will have different ideas and different viewpoints,” he adds. “Over time, I feel like that increase of diversity in engineering will grow into more change and innovation in the field.”
A GE Aerospace volunteer.
Adjei-Mensah is one of nearly 18,000 middle and high school students in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and South Africa who’ve participated in Next Engineers since the initiative was launched in 2021. And thousands more will follow in his footsteps, thanks to an additional $20 million commitment from the GE Aerospace Foundation that will expand the program through 2030. The GE Aerospace Foundation officially launched on May 2, and will build on the more than 100-year legacy of the GE Foundation.
“I am proud that we are expanding Next Engineers to inspire the next generation of engineers and innovators, wherever their careers take them,” says Christian Meisner, chief human resources officer at GE Aerospace. “It’s one of many efforts we are funding through the new GE Aerospace Foundation.”
In addition to its commitment for Next Engineers, the GE Aerospace Foundation has pledged $2 million for workforce development programs to help address the considerable need for highly skilled manufacturing roles. This includes a $1 million grant for a new partnership with United Way of Greater Cincinnati that will coordinate vocational, trade, and technical education and training programs throughout the metropolitan area.
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Read the full article at GEAerospace.com.
