STEMdaily
STEM Directory State By State About Us STEMblog
Friday, July 25, 2014
Media
Amazon�s Third Original Kids Series Annedroids Now Available on Prime Instant Video (Business Wire)
Amazon today announced its third original kids series, Annedroids, is now available for unlimited streaming on Prime Instant Video at no additional cost to Prime members. Created by Emmy-nominated J.J. Johnson (Dino Dan) and Sinking Ship Entertainment , and aimed at children aged four through seven, Annedroids is a live-action adventure series about �Anne,� a young female scientist, her human friends and their android assistants, and the amazing scientific discoveries they make while undertaking the biggest experiment of them all: growing up. The series spotlights, through trial and error, how science, technology, engineering, the arts and math (STEAM) can inspire children to do great things. �We�re thrilled to be working with Amazon on a series that organically showcases the STEAM curriculum by way of a �secret garden� of science, a junkyard environment where it�s not unusual to see a 16-foot claw-like android helping an 11-year-old kid scientist harness lightning to power up her latest invention � and that�s just episode 1!� Said creator and executive producer J.J. Johnson. �With Anne, kid audiences will meet a new type of role model, an aspirational character who loves nothing more than to get her hands dirty and create.�
Diversity in STEM
Like Its Peers, Pinterest Releases Mostly Male Employee Demographics (Mashable)
Silicon Valley's most promising tech companies are proving what everyone already suspected � that tech has a diversity problem. Pinterest is the latest tech company to unveil its employee demographics, which look similar to other companies in the area: mostly white, mostly male. Pinterest reports that 92% of its workforce is either white or Asian, a ratio similar to other social companies like Twitter (88%) and Google (91%). Perhaps more indicative of Silicon Valley's diversity problem: 79% of Pinterest tech jobs, and 81% of its leadership positions are filled by men. These numbers are not uncommon, but they do speak to a larger gender issue plaguing the tech industry. Women are not joining it in large numbers, and those that are aren't working in tech-focused or roles.

Building A Technical Workforce: AREVA Hosts Girls From Sweet Briar's "Explore Engineering" Program For Technical Training Center Tour (AREVA, Inc)
On Tuesday, July 22, AREVA hosted a group of high school girls participating in Sweet Briar�s �Explore Engineering� program for a presentation and tour of the Technical Training Center at the AREVA Operational Center of Excellence on Mill Ridge Road in Lynchburg, Va. The girls learned how safe, clean nuclear energy is produced, saw full-size nuclear reactor component mock-ups, and spent time with several women engineers to learn about their careers in a technical industry. AREVA is committed to providing students with STEM education opportunities to help the next generation prepare for tomorrow�s energy challenges.

Tech camps, other programs hope to keep girls interested in STEM fields (Baltimore Sun)
For years, 13-year-old Kyleigh Hall has spent her summers at a tech camp at Towson University, using the time to achieve her dream of one day being a computer programmer like her mom. But Kyleigh's interest in technology is an exception, as experts say that many girls' interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math wanes as they get older because of socialization and lack of exposure and access. The loss is so prevalent that high schools, universities and companies in Baltimore and Maryland are trying to get more girls hooked on STEM fields early in their educational careers. The camp, which ends today, has been hosted by iD Tech, a Silicon Valley-based company that focuses on educating kids about technology during the summer.
Viewpoints
Julie Kantor (Chief Partnership Officer, STEMconnector & Million Women Mentors): Tampons for Innovation and STEM Underwater Dreams (HuffPost ImpactX)
Last night, we sat at the Smithsonian Institute for the kick-off dinner of The STEM Innovation [Task Force] gathering. Our table had a vibrant and humorous conversation over wine and lavender infused lemonade about OB Tampons as a proven engineering solution. No, it's not what you think and before you dismiss this blog all together as inappropriate for press, it was actually a very poignant discussion that flowed well through dessert about engaging youth and our girls in STEM... I shared with the table that my 11-year-old daughter seemed to be a bit disengaged when she started middle school in both math and science. Cindy Moss from Discovery Education chimed in and told me to buy her a Raspberry Pi so she can build Apps and use Code.org's training as one great suggestion I plugged into my iPhone notes.

Elizabeth Green (Chief Executive, Chalkbeat): Why Do Americans Stink at Math? (New York Times)
Takeshi Matsuyama was an elementary-school teacher, but like a small number of instructors in Japan, he taught not just young children but also college students who wanted to become teachers. At the university-affiliated elementary school where Matsuyama taught, he turned his classroom into a kind of laboratory, concocting and trying out new teaching ideas. When Takahashi met him, Matsuyama was in the middle of his boldest experiment yet � revolutionizing the way students learned math by radically changing the way teachers taught it. Instead of having students memorize and then practice endless lists of equations.. Matsuyama taught his college students to encourage passionate discussions among children so they would come to uncover math�s procedures, properties and proofs for themselves.
Higher Education
WPI hosts students from Northern Ireland, which aims to create 20K STEM jobs in six years (Boston Business Journal)
As part of a broad goal of creating 20,000 [STEM] jobs by 2020, Northern Ireland has sent eight high school students to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to attend a summer program focused on these disciplines and help build a pipeline of talent. The group from Northern Ireland is participating in the program, with about 250 other students ,called Frontiers II. It offers the students training in robotics, engineering exploration, global sustainability and more. The program runs until August 1. Many who attend the program go on to apply to WPI, according to the Worcester-based school. This year�s freshman class at WPI will include 50 students who have attended Frontiers, WPI said.

MCLA Receives STEM Scholarship (iBerkshires)
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarship in [STEM] grant for $639,826 to fund annual scholarships in the amount of $5,000 for 32 students who major in biology, physics, chemistry, environmental studies, computer science or mathematics. NSF S-STEM funding will begin on Aug. 1 and continue through July 31, 2019. In addition, through the �STEM Pathways Program,� MCLA will provide scholarship recipients with academic support, enrichment activities, as well as career development and research opportunities, to ensure that they complete their degrees and are prepared to enter the STEM workforce or a STEM-related graduate program.

Pitt's Swanson School receives NSF grant (Pittsburgh Business Times)
The University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering has received a five-year, $652,380 grant from the National Science Foundation in a nationwide effort to grow the engineering profession in underrepresented populations. The Global Engineering Preparedness Scholarship program will enable 25 academically talented, low-income students to obtain degrees from the Swanson School. �To address the National Academy of Engineering�s Educating the Engineer of 2020 call for preparing engineers to be leaders in global engineering fields, Pitt�s GEPS program will focus on providing greater access, academic support and leadership experiences to students who have the ability and the creativity, but not necessarily the financial means, to succeed at a leading research university,� said Sylvanus Wosu..

Florida Poly's new makerspace will be a techies' dream (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
Florida Polytechnic University � the State University System�s newest high tech devotee � is teaming up with MakerBot 3D printing company to roll out its Rapid Application Development (RAD) Makerspace that will host a whopping 55 MakerBot 3D printers and scanners on Aug. 16. This will make the facility the largest MakerBot Innovation Center in the nation and will house more MakerBot Replicators 3D printers and MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D scanners than any other location in the country. The RAD Makerspace is housed in Florida Poly�s Innovation, Science and Technology Building.
Industry
Pac-12 launches three-year partnership with Chevron to highlight academic success of Pac-12 student-athletes (Pac-12)
The Pac-12 Conference today announced a three-year partnership with Chevron that will highlight the value of education in STEM fields. As part of the agreement, the Pac-12 Network will create a collection of video vignettes, which will run on the conference multimedia channels, highlighting current student-athletes from each campus who major in STEM, including alumni who now work for Chevron. The company also becomes a sponsor of the Pac-12 Men�s Basketball Tournament and the official Fuel and Integrated Energy sponsor of the Conference. �The Pac-12 is thrilled to showcase the impressive academic and career pursuits of our student-athletes in this innovative partnership with Chevron,� said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.
Georgia
Summit focuses on effective STEM teaching methods (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
More than 50 teachers and administrators from across the state are meeting in Forsyth County today for the Georgia STEM Leadership Summit. Forsyth County Schools, STEM Georgia and Discovery Education partnered to host the summit, which focuses on best practices for preparing students for a future in STEM careers. Teachers will learn about engaging, hands-on ways to teach STEM subjects and the new STEM School or Program Certification, a program from the Department of Education that recognizes schools with excellent STEM programs and curriculum.
Kansas City
KC, Think Big execute on White House tech jobs mission (Kansas City Business Journal)
Think Big Partners LLC is working with the Full Employment Council of Kansas City to create the area's next generation of tech worker. And thanks to a recent $500,000 grant, the organizations are creating opportunities for the long-term unemployed for help fill the gaps in City of Fountains' IT workforce. �We recognize that we�ve got to create the 21st-century technology worker in Kansas City faster and better than we have in the past,� said Herb Sih, managing partner of Think Big. �Part of our city�s future depends on this. If we cannot develop this technology worker to unlock the city�s potential, then we�re going to be in a lot of trouble.�
STEM Innovation
How an indoor skydiving company lifts STEM learning, innovative thinking (Chicago Tribune: Blue Sky Innovation)
If you�ve ever considered skydiving but didn�t like the risks, you have a new alternative in the Chicago area. IFly Holdings Inc., based in Austin, Texas, opened indoor skydiving centers in Rosemont in May and in Naperville in July. The centers have meeting space for corporate outings and schools� STEM education programs. Regional manager Scott Landon explains how learning to fly can teach you to think like an innovator. We use our wind tunnels to teach students about drag, or forces exerted on solid objects by a moving object. We can customize the program to suit grades 2 through 4 where we might do concepts for the presentation and a demo with very little mathematics to it. Then we go all the way to 12th grade and advanced. Those programs include a presentation in the tunnel with weighted ball and human drag coefficient experiments. We take objects, whether different sized balls with different textures, and we float them and students have a Q&A.

Stay Connected

STEM ConnectorSTEM BlogFacebookTwitterYou TubeLinkedInGoogle+
STEMconnector�
Tuskegee University Joins Sierra Nevada Corporation�s Dream Chaser� Team
Tuskegee University (TU) and Sierra Nevada Corporation�s (SNC) Space Systems announce they have signed a Letter of Cooperation to initiate collaborative efforts related to SNC�s Dream Chaser� Orbital Transportation System. The purpose of this relationship is to jointly promote aerospace engineering education, research, and development, scientific exploration and recruitment and training of a diverse workforce. Tuskegee University is now a university partner with SNC on the Dream Chaser program. SNC will support research projects for Tuskegee University faculty and students to advance the technical design of SNC�s Dream Chaser. These projects are expected to create internships and future job opportunities in STEM for Tuskegee University students.

SHEC Member Profile: Dr. Chad Womack of UNCF
The STEM Higher Education Council (SHEC) is proud to announce, Dr. Chad Womack, National Director of STEM Education Initiatives and the UNCF Merck Fellowship Program at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), will be a member of the Council. Dr. Chad Womack is a science educator and technology entrepreneur, researcher, and scholar. In his current capacity at the UNCF, Dr. Womack leads the organization�s strategic direction to address unmet educational needs in STEM college and career pipeline for African American students. In addition, Dr. Womack is the Project Lead for the HBCU Startup and Innovation Initiative at the UNCF, a White House and Mitchell Kapor Foundation supported effort to galvanize tech entrepreneurship and commercialization across Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In a statement regarding joining the Council, Dr. Womack remarked, �the UNCF is honored to join the STEM Higher Education Council (SHEC) of STEMconnector, and looks forward to the opportunity to participate in the national dialogue on America�s need for diverse STEM talent. SHEC provides a wonderful forum where the UNCF can share its vision for how historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) can provide solutions for diversity and inclusion in the tech-workforce and build a more inclusive and competitive tech-economy. Along with its partners � the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities � the UNCF is spearheading a unique collaborative effort called the HBCU STEM Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (ICE) initiative. STEM ICE is building capacity among HBCUs, and enhancing skills and abilities among faculty and students which will enable them to be competitive in the innovation and tech-economy. We look forward to sharing the STEM ICE vision and learning best practices from other members of STEMconnector��s STEM Higher Education Council."

California STEM Weekly: July 24, 2014
Don't miss out on this week's California STEM Weekly- featuring STEM news on Chevron teaming up with both the 49ers and the Pac-12 on major STEM initiatives including its Chevron STEM Zone, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District in Alameda County hosts high-paying apprenticeship programs, Twitter releases its employee diversity data, DIY Girls is wrapping up its summer STEM camp in East San Fernando Valley, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation opens up Youth Awards program online, and much more!

Help us make STEMdaily even better with this quick Survey!
We'd like to take the opportunity to thank our loyal readers, our member organizations, and our partners who, by doing incredible STEM initiatives, provide us with great news stories to share 5 days a week. In order to help us improve the content and delivery of STEMdaily, please take a few minutes to complete our reader satisfaction survey. The survey includes some basic questions about the demographic profile of our subscribers, along with some questions to gain feedback on content. Please keep in mind that the survey is completely anonymous. Thanks again for reading STEMdaily and completing the survey.