SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz is teaming up with two Silicon Valley community colleges to turn out more engineers with four-year degrees.

The program, which involves Foothill College and De Anza College, is funded by a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. A fourth partner is the NASA Ames Research Center.

"There are many students with the talent and the drive to succeed in engineering careers who need the support this grant will provide," said Martha Kanter, chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

The focus over the next five years will be on the needs of students from groups that have been underrepresented in science and engineering careers, said Carrol Moran, director of UCSC’s Educational Partnership Center, which oversees the new program.

"NSF has a strong interest in getting more underrepresented minorities and women into engineering programs," Moran said.

Participating students will receive tutorial services, academic counseling, summer programs and research opportunities. They also will get online advising and tutoring by undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and engineers working in industry.

Engineering students at UCSC focus on information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology, specialties that match current industry needs.

The new program builds on a partnership formed in 2000 by UCSC, Foothill-De Anza Community College District and San Jose State University to bring more students into the higher education pipeline to study math and science.

"We will work with students on their math and science skills, show them how the concepts they’re learning are applied in industry and at NASA Ames, and connect them with students in engineering programs at UCSC," said Ed Landesman, a retired UCSC math professor who oversees the partnership.

Steve Kang, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering at UCSC, said the program is an example of how community colleges and universities can work together to improve educational opportunities in science and engineering.