Freeport, ME -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/10/2010 -- Time Warner Cable today announced a substantial new philanthropic commitment that will directly impact the education and leadership training of young women interested in embarking on careers in science.

Time Warner Cable is awarding a three-year grant totaling $100,000 to Coastal Studies for Girls in Freeport. The award will be used to fund science programming and equipment and will be used as a challenge grant to launch a scholarship fund called “Scholarships for Science” for high school sophomores to attend Coastal Studies for Girls. The school is the country’s first and only residential science and leadership semester school for girls and attracts motivated students from around the nation.

With over 1,000 employees in New England, Time Warner Cable is Maine’s largest provider of cable television and broadband services. The company awarded the grant as part of its science and technology philanthropic initiative, Connect a Million Minds (CAMM). Time Warner Cable launched CAMM last fall to introduce youth to opportunities and resources that inspire them to develop the important science, technology, engineering and math skills they need to become the problem solvers of tomorrow.

“As a company founded on innovation, we share a commitment with this innovative school to inspiring and educating young people about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Keith Burkley, Time Warner Cable’s Regional Vice President for Operations. “We also place a high premium on the diversity of our employees. That means encouraging more girls to pursue non-traditional career paths in science and technology and to become the leaders of tomorrow.”

For example, according to a 2010 study by American Association for University Women, women earn only 20 percent of bachelor’s degrees in physics, engineering and computer science. That compares with earlier studies showing that women are under-represented in technology fields in the workforce. A groundbreaking study by the National Council for Research on Women in 2001 found that women constitute 45 percent of the workforce in the United States, but hold just 12 percent of science and engineering jobs in business and industry.

“Simply put, we need to reverse this trend,” Burkley said, “and programs like Coastal Studies for Girls will help by inspiring and empowering girls to become the scientists and leaders of the future.”

Today’s announcement follows the graduation of Coastal Studies for Girls’ pioneer class last Thursday and Friday. This trailblazing class featured girls from Maine and around the country who spent the spring term of their sophomore year at the school’s 626-acre campus at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport. Coastal Studies for Girls features a marine science and leadership curriculum, while also offering classes in the core subjects of English, math, history and foreign language. More information about Coastal Studies for Girls is available at http://www.coastalstudiesforgirls.org.

Nationally, Time Warner Cable has committed $100 million in cash and in-kind services to advance science and technology education in the United States. Among the programs is Cracking the Codes in the Digital World®, a curriculum designed for Time Warner Cable by educational experts to teach kids how cable technology works. For information about Cracking the Codes or about Connect a Million Minds, go to httpP://www.connectamillionminds.com.