REP. CUELLAR HELPS CREATE NEW LEGACIES WITH $4.4+ MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING TAMIU was the recipient of over $4.4 million in federal funding this year announced by U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar, which supports legacy opportunities for undergraduate and graduate Hispanic students including the improvement of a binational air quality system. In April, TAMIU received $2,910,420 to promote graduate-level opportunities for Hispanics through its Next Level Engineering Project. The Project will expand courses and institutional resources for Hispanic graduate-level students by developing a Master of Science in Systems Engineering and graduate certificates in Engineering fields. In August, Congressman Cuellar announced $1,399,532 in federal funding of which $1,199,532 is to be used to prepare 37 undergraduate TAMIU STEM students to be mathematics teachers at Laredo Independent School District and United Independent School District, thereby reducing teacher turnover and improving engagement for STEM studies. The remaining $200,000 will be used for TAMIU’s Track 1 Project, which is focused on improving undergraduate Engineering student retention through virtual learning and group activities. In addition, TAMIU and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute received $150,000 focused on the design and implementation of a binational air quality measurement system for the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo cross-border region. Provided by the North American Development Bank, the funding will be used to monitor air quality along heavy truck routes, including the World Trade Bridge and the Colombia Solidarity Bridge. RTG PROGRAM CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY, PAST AMBASSADORS SHARE LEGACY EXPERIENCES In celebration of its 15th anniversary this year, TAMIU’s Reading the Globe (RTG) Program invited former RTG ambassadors to share their life-changing travel stories through recorded video testimonials. The videos were posted on the RTG Program website and RTG Instagram account at https://www. instagram.com/tamiureadingtheglobe/ and TAMIU’s Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/ txamiu, as well as other University-affiliated social media channels. The videos answered questions such as the name of their common read, the country traveled to, a special trip memory, the legacy impact of their experience, and advice for current First-Year students hoping to travel abroad. The Fall Campus Common Read for University students also serves as the selected text for the Laredo Public Library’s One City, One Book selection as part of an ongoing community partnership. This year’s selection was Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. The author visited Laredo in October and met with students and the public. University students also applied to be RTG Ambassadors for an opportunity to travel to Japan in Spring 2024. Since 2008, the University’s RTG Program has offered First-Year students the opportunity to travel abroad to connect their common read to an international experience. The selected read offers opportunities for discourse on student-relevant issues while raising social awareness on both a local and global scale. University students have traveled the world, including Cambodia, Chile, China, Eastern Europe, Ghana, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey. 8
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