Tennessee Tech’s Jeffers Learning Resource Center will donates two high performance computers to two Putnam County STEM programs.
Center Director Jason Beach said Upperman High School and Prescott Middle School received the computers through a University endowment. Beach said the systems will enhance the STEM programs at each facility.
“So we went ahead and wanted to donate that hardware to the school system so they have access to that high performance computing before they got to a University,” Beach said. “So they’d already have the advantage of already being able to utilize those specialized computers to develop those specialized skills.”
Beach said center officials met with each school principal to discuss the benefits students could receive from the computers. Beach said center staff and principals mulled over different strategies and plans, figuring how to use the machines. Beach said students can implement Computer Assisted Design programming or E-sports programming.
Beach said students can further explore STEM related fields that would require the power these computers supply.
“Prescott Middle School and Upperman High School are interested in teaching, in middle school and high school, in these 3D rendering models and these 3D programs,” Beach said.
Beach said Tech Tomorrow is a strategic plan that sets out the goals for the future of the center. Beach said a portion of the plan involves innovation, evaluating how resources are being used. Beach said the donated computers have plenty of use left, as the center used the computers for three years.
“Making sure that resources are being used, you know, correctly,” Beach said. “And actually used for the benefit of the Upper Cumberland region.”