{"id":6818,"date":"2022-11-18T02:01:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T08:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottaaronson.blog\/?p=6818"},"modified":"2022-11-18T11:01:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T17:01:21","slug":"winners-of-the-scott-aaronson-grant-for-advanced-precollege-stem-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottaaronson.blog\/?p=6818","title":{"rendered":"WINNERS of the Scott Aaronson Grant for Advanced Precollege STEM Education!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m thrilled to be able to interrupt your regular depressing programming for 100% happy news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some readers will remember that, back in September, I announced<\/a> that an unnamed charitable foundation had asked my advice on how best to donate $250,000 for advanced precollege STEM education. So, just like the previous time<\/a> I got such a request, from Jaan Tallinn’s Survival and Flourishing Fund<\/a>, I decided to do a call for proposals on Shtetl-Optimized<\/em> before passing along my recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can now reveal that the generous foundation, this time around, was the Packard Foundation<\/a>. Indeed, the idea and initial inquiries to me came directly from Dave Orr<\/a>: the chair of the foundation, grandson of Hewlett-Packard cofounder David Packard<\/a>, and (so I learned) longtime Shtetl-Optimized<\/em> reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can also<\/em> now reveal the results. I was honored to get more than a dozen excellent applications. After carefully considering all of them, I passed along four finalists to the Packard Foundation, which preferred to award the entire allotment to a single program if possible. After more discussion and research, the Foundation then actually decided on two<\/em> winners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n