DENSO awards grants to 24 colleges, including two in Arkansas

DENSO North America Foundation (DNAF) awarded more than $1 million to 24 colleges and universities across North America, including two Arkansas colleges – Arkansas Northeastern College and Arkansas State University.

DENSO, which has a manufacturing facility in Osceola, Ark., contributed the monies to “support advancing education in skilled trades; active safety and robotics programs; student vehicle teams; and learning labs among other areas,” the release stated.

“The best learning experiences are when things don’t work how you expected them to work, or how the textbook explained,” said Doug Patton, president of DNAF and executive vice president of Engineering at DENSO International America, Inc. “That’s why we want students to get their hands on technology. They need to get their hands dirty and figure out how things work, how to fix, test, and develop technology, how to innovate and think creatively.”

DNAF is the philanthropic arm of global auto parts supplier DENSO’s North American headquarters, DENSO International America, Inc. Since 2001, the DNAF has been dedicated to advancing the auto industry through grants to colleges and universities. The Foundation provides students with technology, tools and experiences similar to that of the professional workplace they’ll experience after graduation.

In addition to the Foundation’s efforts, DENSO also supports students one-on-one with its expertise through mentorship, connecting students with DENSO experts to give them a better idea of what being an engineer or technical professional means. DENSO supports programs around the country and the world such as FIRST Robotics, Project Lead the Way and Society of Automotive Engineering Collegiate Design Series as a part of this mentoring effort. DENSO also has an extensive co-op student program where students are given a high level of responsibility and gain real-world experience.

In North America, DENSO employs more than 23,000 people at 30 consolidated companies and affiliates. Of these, 25 are manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the United States alone, DENSO employs more than 15,000 people in California, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas.

DENSO’s North American consolidated sales totaled $9.9 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.