Last week, Amazon’s Future Engineer Program announced that they are partnering with the Seattle Pacific Science Center to provide STEM education programs to students from underrepresented communities, starting with their $1 million donation grant.

The Pacific Science Center (PacSci), located in Seattle, Washington, has a mission to ignite curiosity in every child and fuel a passion for discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking in each and every individual. The Science Center provides both virtual experiences as well as in-person programs for people to attend.

Amazon’s Future Engineer Program, launched in 2018, focuses on computer science as a core element of STEM disciplines. The program also focuses on creating a childhood-to-career perspective with computer science and provides things like coding camps, online lessons, AP computer science courses and underwriting for college scholarships.

The $1 million grant will help PacSci expand their subsidized services to K-8 Title I schools, those where 40% or more of the student population is classified as low-income. The grant’s special focus will be on the Seattle metro area.

PacSci CEO Will Daugherty spoke on the goal of their partnership with the future engineer program.

“The goal is to reach 80,000 students with a suite of educational experiences designed to spark students’ curiosity, critical thinking and appreciation for science fields and careers,” Daugherty said.

PacSci recently announced their reopening to the public on April 20th.