Tri-Valley residents and institutions value science both as a pursuit of knowledge and in its practical application. The importance of science to the region may partly be the result of having the most highly educated residents in California. Nearly 30% of Tri-Valley adults have a graduate or professional degree, compared to 19% for Bay Area adults and 12% for California adults as a whole, according to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

That local residents value science and related fields may also be due in part to the Bay Area’s world-class universities. The University of California at Berkeley is one example. Berkeley professor and biochemist Jennifer Doudna shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9, a genome editing breakthrough that has revolutionized biomedicine, an important and growing Tri-Valley industry. Reinhard Genzel, a professor emeritus of physics and of astronomy at Berkeley, shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy. These are but two of the accomplished science professors who have drawn talented students, many of whom stay in the area after their formal education is completed.

The biggest factor of all may be the two national laboratories located in Livermore. For more than 60 years, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories have applied science and technology to the goal of strengthening our nation’s security. The facilities at Lawrence Livermore span one square mile, sometimes called "the smartest square mile on Earth," because it employs 3,000 scientists and engineers. Together, the labs created the Livermore Valley Open Campus, an innovation hub of advanced scientific and engineering centers that allows private industry to collaborate with lab personnel on breakthrough technologies using equipment and facilities otherwise unavailable. The regional impact of the two national laboratories and their brain trust of scientists and researchers pioneering cutting-edge technologies cannot be underestimated.

When it comes to science, these factors have created a virtuous cycle in the Tri-Valley. Technology transfer from the labs has helped create new science-based businesses and important economic sectors such as the biotechnology hub that has developed at Hacienda and in Pleasanton. Highly skilled talent has been drawn to the labs for employment and by the quality universities in the region. In turn, the highly educated and engaged parents of the Tri-Valley have supported the area’s excellent schools. Those schools, by supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education–and more–are helping ensure that today’s Tri-Valley students will be equipped to provide highly skilled talent to regional businesses or start businesses of their own.

Community Support

The Tri-Valley community supports STEM education in a variety of ways. The Sandia Women’s Connections group, for example, holds an annual awards program to introduce female students to careers and STEM opportunities through the Sandia internship program. Last year the group honored 26 female high-schoolers, including several from the Tri-Valley, for their accomplishments in science, technology, engineering, and math. The event pairs award winners with female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians from Sandia who act as mentors to the students and discuss academic plans and careers in STEM.

Nonprofit Pleasanton Partnerships in Education (PPIE) has played a key role in helping maintain the quality of local schools and supporting innovative STEM projects for students of all ages, from elementary school to high school. Thanks to PPIE grants made possible by business, foundation, and community donors, including Hacienda tenants such as Veeva Systems and Oracle, students have participated in projects involving 3D printing, robotics, environmental science, and much more.

Public school officials have also worked hard to deliver a quality education to their students. Pleasanton schools have partnered with nonprofit Project Lead the Way for many years. The district-wide program Project Lead The Way teaches pre-K through 12th-graders about computer science, engineering, and biomedical science through hands-on projects and classroom lessons that have been adapted over the past year to the challenges of distance learning.

“PLTW empowers students to develop and apply in-demand, transportable skills by exploring real-world challenges,” according to the nonprofit. “Through our pathways in computer science, engineering, and biomedical science, students not only learn technical skills but also learn to solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate, and collaborate. We also provide teachers with the training, resources, and support they need to engage students in real-world learning.”

One indicator of the value of science education can be seen at Dublin High School, which is in the process of building a new engineering and science building. The new building will offer an additional 47,000 square feet of classroom and lab space equipped with state-of-the-art technology. "Once completed, our new engineering and science building will help us maintain the level of excellence in STEM disciplines we have become known for, while expanding opportunities for students and staff to succeed," according to Dave Marken, Superintendent of the Dublin Unified School District.

Nationally Ranked for STEM

Year after year, Tri-Valley public schools are nationally rated for their high quality of education. Local high schools are also rated highly for STEM studies in particular. Foothill and Amador Valley high schools in Pleasanton and Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon are included in Newsweek's Top 500 Best STEM Schools for 2020.

Pleasanton’s Amador Valley High School has earned the College Board's AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award twice for expanding young women's access to AP Computer Science Principles. As Assistant Superintendent Dr. Janelle Woodward notes, “Amador Valley Computer Science teachers Richard Hanson and Kevin Kiyoi and students have fostered an incredible environment that helps encourage more students to explore the field of computer science." Hanson describes it this way: “We try to put our students in situations where they'll be successful that will touch a nerve and awaken something inside them."

A group of Amador students, with Hanson’s help, runs the ACE Coding Club. “Founded in the summer of 2013 at a local Starbucks, ACE Coding began with the goal of giving as many people as possible the skills for and interest in programming as a hobby or career,” according to the group. “Since its inaugural four student class, ACE Coding has expanded to each of the local middle schools and has now reached hundreds of students in our community through its weekly lessons, as well as several hundred more across the Bay Area through its annual ACE Code Day.”

The ACE Coding Club and other programs mentioned are just a portion of the resources and influences that have shaped local schools for the better. The spirit of the Tri-Valley as an innovation hub can be seen from the influence of the national labs to the cutting-edge local startups to caring and enthusiastic parents and their children. As teacher Hanson puts it, "We're lucky to live in a community with great family support and really inquisitive students.”

For more information about Pleasanton Partnerships in Education, please visit www.ppie.org.

For more information about the Pleasanton Unified School District, please visit www.pleasantonusd.net.

For more information about the Dublin Unified School District, please visit www.dublin.k12.ca.us.

For more information about ACE Coding Club, please visit www.acecoding.org.