Associate professor Candy DeBerry's biology students at Washington & Jefferson College didn't want to leave when class was over.

The freshmen were too engrossed in studying cells using a sophisticated, research-grade microscope paid for with a $227,062 grant from the National Science Foundation.

So even though the class was supposed to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the 15-day January term, students sometimes stayed until 5 p.m., studying cell proteins.

Before getting this microscope in 2006, the best one at W&J was a fluorescence microscope -- which Dr. Berry described as a workhorse -- but it couldn't project images on a computer screen for all to see at one time, wasn't controlled by computers, couldn't look at as many different things at once and provided less detail.

"The new scope is so user friendly. My freshmen on the eighth day were using it themselves. I was just sitting there watching. They're like, 'I can't believe I'm driving a quarter-million-dollar piece of equipment.' Yeah, you are and you're doing fine," she said.

Given the importance of education in science, technology, engineering and math -- the STEM fields -- to the nation's future, both federal and state governments are putting money into STEM education.

"It's my view that the federal government's investment is crucial to this," said Joan Ferrini-Mundy, NSF director of the division of research on learning in formal and informal settings. "At a place like NSF, with our institutional commitment to innovation and discovery, the kinds of investments we make from here are the most likely to be pushing the cutting edge in STEM teaching and learning."

Without government funding, she said, "Something would surely happen. People are enterprising and committed."

But she believes the federal investments help to ensure that improvements happen in a focused way and that innovations are pulled together for all to use.

The most recent estimate of the U.S. General Accounting Office figured that 13 federal civilian agencies spent $2.8 billion in 2004 for 207 education programs aimed at increasing the numbers of students and graduates or improving education in STEM fields.

About two-thirds of that money was spent by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, which together accounted for 99 of the programs.

Pennsylvania, too, is active among states promoting STEM, including the formation of the Pennsylvania STEM Initiative in 2007 -- with help from a National Governors Association grant -- as well as the governor's initiatives to put laptop computers in classrooms and encourage the use of inquiry to teach science in elementary schools.

Since starting Classrooms for the Future in 2006-07, the state has spent $155 million, including $60 million this school year, on laptops, professional development and other technology. Also begun the same year, the Science: It's Elementary program has received $38 million in state money, including $14.5 million this year.

Faced with a budget deficit, Gov. Ed Rendell last week proposed spending less on these two programs in the next fiscal year.

Sue Mukherjee, state lead for the Pennsylvania STEM Initiative, said the group began by developing five regional STEM networks to act as advocates and develop long-term strategies for STEM, including education.

"What government can do is bring this broad collaboration to increase the urgency and advocacy for STEM," said Ms. Mukherjee.

On the federal level, grants cover a wide range of programs, from equipment to professional development to research, from K-12 education to higher education or a combination.

In 2003, the region's Math & Science Collaborative, which is housed at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, was awarded an $18.2 million, five-year grant from NSF to create the Math and Science Partnership of Southwest Pennsylvania. That grant has been extended until 2010 because work remains and all of the money hasn't been spent.

Partner institutions include Carlow, Chatham and Robert Morris universities and St. Vincent College as well as several intermediate units and 53 school districts across 11 counties.

In addition, the state has awarded the partnership two grants totaling $3 million through 2010, using U.S. Department of Education money.

More than 700 teacher leaders and more than 200 administrators in an 11-county area have received extensive professional development aimed at enhancing the teaching of science and math. They in turn teach others and build ongoing professional learning communities.

There also are 10 full- or part-time math and science coordinators serving as regional resources.

"We've watched the learning increase," said Nancy Bunt, program director of the collaborative and principal investigator for the partnership.

Among the various NSF grants in the region is one worth $562,220 to Robert Morris University, which this fall will initiate a STEM scholar program. It will provide a scholarship of $6,000 a year for four years to 21 students -- seven in science, seven in engineering and seven in math -- as well as special programs for them, including tutors and research projects. It is aimed at high-caliber students in all groups, including first-generation students, minorities and women.

Maria Kalevitch, professor of science and associate dean of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science at Robert Morris University, said the money will help to build STEM education not only for the 21 students but also influence students who are in the major in general.

"We are a smaller school. Grants of that magnitude we haven't received for many years," said Dr. Kalevitch. "I think it's extremely important."

At the National Institutes of Health, the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards -- one of the largest STEM education programs at $782 million this year -- helps to support about 17,000 graduate students and researchers in pre- and post-doctoral programs, including students and post-docs at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University.

"We're interested in maintaining a scientific workforce that can address health-related research issues into the future," said Walter Schaffer, senior scientific adviser for extramural research at NIH.

It also is spending $688 million this year helping clinicians -- such as physicians and dentists -- train to be researchers.

Without such help, Dr. Schaffer said, "The quality of graduate training would probably be a little more spotty."

At Washington & Jefferson, Dr. DeBerry said the government funding of STEM education is "a matter of survival of the human race, frankly, not to overstate it.

"We make bad choices so many times because we don't understand science," she said.