The Infinity Project is a programme, created in the late nineties by Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dallas, Texas. It is presently taught in high schools in 37 states throughout the United States to interest students in engineering and technology as a career and in universities to help retention.
The programme was designed to answer the perennial student question “why do I need to learn this” by connecting the relevance of Science and Mathematics to everyday digital devices.
The School of Electronic and Communications Engineering (SECE) at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), is the first third level School outside the US to teach The Infinity Project. Two stand-alone modules have been developed based on The Project’s curriculum and are included in the first year of all SECE’s programmes. SECE is also supporting the implementation of The Infinity Project in a number of secondary schools in Ireland. Some of The Project’s subject material is ideally suited to students from age 15 years upwards as it is built on mathematical concepts covered at Junior Certificate level and beyond.
To date over 80 secondary school teachers of Mathematics and Science have attended SECE for training in The Project. This is the first instance of a collaborative initiave between the US and Ireland in second level education.
A pilot of a modified version of The Infinity Project has recently concluded in a number of Community Training Centres (CTCs) at Pre-Apprenticeship/Youthreach level which was funded by the State Training Authority (FAS). The pilot was targeted at 16 to 22 year old youths who had not completed any State examinations but who require a minimum knowledge of Mathematics and Science to pursue a formal apprenticeship or to acquire new skills for future employment. The pilot was extremely successful and the new programme is to be extended to CTCs nationwide in September .
In this paper we will report on the results to date, which are very positive in all three areas of implementation. Retention at third level has risen to 70-80 %. In secondary schools there is up to a 100% increase in the number of students choosing Science and up to a 40% increase in students studying Higher level Mathematics for the Leaving Certificate. We will also report on the impact of The Infinity Project at Pre-Apprenticeship/Youthreach level. The pilot programme in this area was completed in July 2008 and results are very encouraging. Attendance was almost 100%.

Keywords: Engineering Education, science, mathematics, relevant, retention.