Fluor Corp. gift aids Clemson University students

Published: January 4, 2011

CLEMSON — As final exams approached last semester, France Jackson ran into a particularly thorny problem with her thermodynamics class at Clemson University.
 
"It was an online class, and I was having difficulty with some of the concepts on my own," said Jackson, a senior industrial engineering major from Columbia. "The study hall was a big help. The tutor even helped me outside of normal hours before my final."
 
The Fluor Engineering and Science Study Hall, open to all Clemson math and science students in the evening five nights a week, has received renewed funding through a gift from Fluor Corp. It is one of 10 programs receiving funds from three separate Fluor gifts totaling $56,000.
 
Tutors are juniors, seniors and graduate students in the College of Engineering and Science. They offer help in all engineering and science subjects.
 
"We run the Fluor Study Hall for any student who wants help, whether they're trying to make all 'As' or struggling with a specific concept," said Sue Lasser, director of the college's Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention, or PEER, which oversees the study hall program. "It's a service that Fluor provides to the whole college."
 
For Jackson, it proved particularly useful.
 
"This year, it has been very helpful in my thermal dynamics class," she said. "I saw a 20-point difference in my test scores."
 
"It helps as a resource because if you're studying for a test at 9 or 10 at night and the teacher is gone, the students are there to help you," said senior electrical and computer engineering major Brittany Bowman. "Also, if you have a teacher and don't understand their methods, the tutors can give you a fresh perspective."
 
The Math Out of the Box program, an inquiry-based math curriculum that reaches thousands of elementary school students across the state, also received $10,000 from the company.
 
Math Out of the Box strives to improve teacher content knowledge of mathematics and engage teachers in effective practices, such as math notebooking and formative assessment. It creates hands-on lessons for students and gives teachers a structured way to teach math.
 
The Fluor Corp. gifts also include funding for:

• the Undergraduate Student Government Excellence-in-Teaching Award, which provides selected faculty members with travel grants to pursue classroom-related research;
• the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions staged by student members of the American Society of Civil Engineers;
• travel for undergraduates to attend regional meetings of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers;
• scholarships, travel and the Pre-College Initiative program of the National Society of Black Engineers;
• workshops, seminars and lectures for the Society of Women Engineers;
• support of local chapter activities of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers;
• field trips and career fairs for students in the construction science management program; and
• Clemson's Formula SAE competition held by the Society of Automotive Engineers, in which students design, engineer, build and compete with their own small, open-wheeled race car against other universities.

The gifts are part of The Will to Lead: A Campaign for Clemson, a multiyear effort to raise at least $600 million to support Clemson University students and faculty with scholarships, professorships and enhanced learning and research opportunities.

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