Mentoring Program Honored

This article was previously published in the September 13, 1997 edition of The Seattle Times.

A University of Washington mentoring program for children with disabilities has won an award from the White House.

The UW's DO-IT program, developed by the UW College of Engineering and UW Office of Computing and Communication, recently won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. DO-IT (which stands for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) encourages teenagers with disabilities to pursue careers in technical fields. DO-IT received the 1997 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

The DO-IT program offers summer workshops and labs to disabled high school students. In addition to science lectures and labs, the summer program teaches the teens to take advantage of adaptive technology to participate in science.

The program also keeps track of the students through the school year, connecting them with each other and with mentors through e-mail.

"This award recognizes the contribution of the DO-IT mentors in the successful transition of program participants to college and careers," says Sheryl Burgstahler, DO-IT Director. Sponsored by the Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology Council, the awards seek to recognize outstanding programs for mentoring underrepresented groups in science, math and engineering fields. Sponsored primarily by the National Science Foundation, the DO-IT program was among nine institutions and ten individuals to receive one of the awards.