Planetarium receives $16K grant to provide field trips for K-12 students

Monday, Sep 28, 2026 • Greg Pederson :

The UTA Planetarium has received a $16,000 grant from H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust (H-E-B TOC) to help pay the cost of field trips to Planetarium shows for area K-12 schools with significant numbers of economically disadvantaged students.

This is the sixth consecutive year H-E-B TOC has awarded a grant to UTA. The grant will be used for the Planetarium’s Stellar Funding initiative, which provides funds to help defray the cost of field trips for area schools. H-E-B TOC’s grant will provide hundreds of students with the opportunity to visit the UTA campus and see a Planetarium show at no cost.

The Planetarium’s first grant from H-E-B TOC came during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021 and helped the Planetarium provide virtual field trips to K-12 students.

“The Planetarium is very grateful to H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust for providing this continued support,” said Levent Gurdemir, UTA Planetarium director. “This generous grant will enable more students to visit the Planetarium, regardless of their economic status.

“Thanks to the generosity of H-E-B TOC, thousands of students have been able to learn about space and become inspired by STEM through our Planetarium shows. We’re very pleased that this new grant will allow more students to have that same experience.”

For more than 35 years, H-E-B TOC has invested over $100 million in nonprofit organizations focused on the needs of children and families throughout the state.

The UTA Planetarium provides educational entertainment to nearly 50,000 visitors each year, including close to 30,000 students from K-12 schools around the D-FW Metroplex. Since opening in 2006, the Planetarium has been host to more than half a million K-12 students through class field trips to the UTA campus.

The facility, which features a 60-foot dome projection surface, is equipped with a Digistar 7 projection system, the most advanced technology commercially available to planetariums.

Digistar 7 uses six laser projectors for 360-degree ultra-bright high-resolution views. It features 3D models and provides universities and planetariums worldwide with instant real-time access to an extensive cloud of astronomy and science databases from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the latest planetarium shows.

---

The UTA College of Science, a Carnegie R1 research institution, is preparing the next generation of leaders in science through innovative education and hands-on research and offers programs in Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Data Science, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Health Professions, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology. To support educational and research efforts visit the giving page, or if you're a prospective student interested in beginning your #MaverickScience journey visit our future students page.