Tennessee Tech’s Millard Oakley STEM Center has been at the forefront of enhancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for the region’s students since it opened in 2010, and a recent grant places the center in an even more active role. Now the official Hub for the Upper Cumberland Rural STEM Initiative, the STEM Center received $500,000 of a $1.5 million grant from Tennessee’s First to the Top program. The remaining $1 million went to the Putnam County School System.