UPDATE AUG 21 ,5:45 P.M.- It’s a big day for STEM education and workforce development in Eastern Idaho.
Officials from the College of Eastern Idaho gathered outside the new technology center to announce a new partnership with Batelle Energy Alliance and Frontier Credit Union to launch the future tech building on the CEI campus.
“This is such an exciting day for Idaho students. It’s a huge win. I said almost 15 years ago now, we must prepare our students for their future, not our past. That’s what the STEM institute here, sponsored by BEA, INL, and Frontier Credit Union, is going to do: prepare our students in different ways for their future and future jobs,” State Representative Wendy Hornan, co-chair of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee
The 88,000 square foot building will hold advanced classrooms and the Batelle Energy Alliance classroom, where real-world learning will lead to career paths in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Idaho National Lab director Dr. John Wagner says the new building and partnership will provide a lot of benefits to the community.
“Workforce is essential to the community, to everything that we do. And for us, particularly STEM education and STEM-related fields are incredibly important to our national laboratory. And we want to see more of our children, of our community members being educated to be our workforce at the laboratory,” said Wagner.
Batelle is investing 5.5 million to support the facility and launch the STEM institute, and Frontier Credit Union is providing $3.5 million to the project.
“Our mission is building better lives, and we feel like this is a perfect combination of that and bringing all of that mission together for us as we invest in students and they thrive in our communities, our communities flourish. And so we’re also launching a scholarship program specifically for CEI students who are focused on STEM programs,” said Dan Thurman, CEO at Frontier Credit Union.
The building and classrooms are scheduled to open in the fall of 2026.
ORIGINAL:
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Today, August 21, the College of Eastern Idaho (CEI) is taking a major step forward in workforce development and STEM education.
At noon, in partnership with Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) and Frontier Credit Union, CEI will unveil its new Future Tech Building, a facility dedicated to shaping the next generation of skilled professionals. Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
Join us for Local News 8 at noon as we take a closer look at the new facility.
