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Industry
Are you a leading security/IT/cyber company? (LinkedIn)
You can be part of the National STEM Forum on Security Risks and Emerging Workforce Solutions being held on April 14th at the National Press Club. This interactive event will feature panel discussions with leading security experts and cross industry dialogue with industry associations and executives from a variety of economic sectors offering practical insights for building a pipeline of qualified security talent to enhance the resilience of our global economy. Hosted by Apollo Education Group, University of Phoenix, and STEMconnector® this event is designed to be interactive, engaging, and thought provoking. Space is extremely limited. We hope you can attend as your experience would be a great asset to the event.
Balaji Ganapathy & Caitlin Olson (TCS): Creating Tomorrow's STEM Leaders, Today (U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation)
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) sought to address this issue by developing new approaches to education that rekindle students desire to pursue STEM and CS disciplines. Whether advancing thought leadership by convening roundtables, creating consensus through cross- sector collaboration, building digital technology platforms, or activating skilled volunteers to bring real-world technology skills to students at all levels, TCS is marshalling national partnerships to positively impact STEM education. By bringing together key stakeholders from the government, industry, education, and nonprofit sectors, TCS collectively devises creative solutions to the STEM proficiency gap in North America and maps a course of action to reverse the trend. 
Diversity in STEM
Indiana Providing Thousands of Mentors (Inside Indiana Business)
Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann today encouraged Indiana's business leaders to participate in a national women's STEM mentoring program. Speaking at the Eli Lilly Technology Center, she noted that Indiana has pledged 5,000 mentors toward the national goal. These mentors are tasked with increasing the interest and confidence of girls and young women to succeed in [STEM] studies and careers. The Indiana program is part of the Million Women Mentors, an initiative of the STEM Connector organization in collaboration with over 50 other leading national organizations.
EdMonth event focuses on women in education (Daily Trojan)
Academic Cultural Assembly held a panel discussion event through their EdMonth series on Thursday night in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. The event titled, The Girl Effect: Moving from Why to How, discussed the unique potential of adolescent girls and how to break the cycles of intergenerational poverty. Panelists included Martha Adams, chief creative officer of Girl Rising, and Melissa Moritz, vice president of STEM and Education Initiatives at Teach For America. EdMonth is a monthlong program dedicated to raising awareness about the state of education in the United States.
Higher Education
Fun in the sun? Students install solar panels on break (USA Today)
For most students, spring break is a much-deserved chance to do anything but work. But in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. this week, about 30 students from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, are spending their spring break installing solar panels at three low-income homes. They're working with GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit that helps homeowners go solar free of charge and trains students hoping to break into the solar industry. "We at Cal Poly Pomona are proud to represent our interests in helping the less fortunate with our skills and knowledge in engineering," Gregory Lynch, an electrical and electronics engineering student at Cal Poly, said in a statement. The students are camping at Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend, according to GRID.
Computer science surge sparks campus building boom (Network World)
Space is tight for computer science students at the University of Washington. The program can accommodate only one‐third of UW students who fulfill prerequisites and apply to the major. With lobbying support from a number of big-name tech neighbors Microsoft, Amazon and Zillow, to name a few -- the university is soliciting state funds to help pay for a second building for its Computer Science & Engineering department in Seattle. With a new building, UW expects to double its compsci enrollment. UW isn't alone. Colleges and universities across the country have been building new facilities to keep up with expanding STEM programs.
USC brain research center gets $50 million gift (L.A. Biz)
The University of Southern California has received a $50 million donation from a Silicon Valley couple that will go to endow and name the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. The gift will help fund the institutes research on new therapies, preventions and cures for brain injury and disease, including Alzheimers, schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury. Among the interdisciplinary institutes achievements was being among the first to map the spread of Alzheimers disease in the living human brain and to create digital 3- and 4-D brain atlases to examine the effects of neurological diseases.
Faculty Propose Sweet Briar Shift Focus to STEM (Inside Higher Ed)
Twenty-plus faculty members and alumnae of Sweet Briar College announced Thursday that they want to keep the institution alive but shift its focus to science, mathematics and technology. The plan would have the college focus on STEM, with seven majors in those fields. The college would remain a women's institution and thus become the only one to focus on STEM. Students would earn a bachelor of arts degree in three years, during which they would also take general education courses and have internships. The plan would require a $62 million investment and an entering class of 120 students.
STEM Competitions
Theres Only A Month Left in the Pitch Your Prototype Challenge (MAKE)
Theres just over a month left to submit your own project to the Pitch Your Prototype challenge, a collaboration between Make: magazine and Cornell University with the goal of digging up promising prototypes from the Maker community. The individual or team that wins the challenge will be awarded $5,000 and have the opportunity appear onstage at MakerCon New York. The contest is open until 11:59 PST on April 30, 2015.
MIT's big data forefather Michael Stonebraker receives $1M Turing Award (Boston Business Journal)
Michael Stonebraker, serial entrepreneur and computer scientist, has won the Turing Award, considered by many in the field to be the equivalent of the "Nobel Prize for computer science." Stonebraker is a researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-founder of several Massachusetts companies including Bedford-based operational database company VoltDB, and Billerica-based Vertica Systems, bought by Hewlett-Packard for $340 million in 2011. "This is every computer scientist's ultimate fantasy," Stonebraker said in an interview about receiving the award.
Startups
General Assembly And 500 Startups Partner For Accelerator Prep Program (TechCrunch)
General Assembly and 500 Startups are putting their collective heads together to provide an accelerator prep program designed for alumnae of GAs programs. The month long training bootcamp is taking applications now and will give capital and education to companies that include at least one graduate of a General Assembly immersive or part-time course or online circuit. The program will look to accept at least ten companies, and potentially as many as 20 for its accelerator prep courses. Successful applicants will receive $8,000 in cash and a $2,000 tuition waiver from 500 Startups in exchange for a 2% equity stake.
Utah
CenturyLink Donates $10,000 to STEM Education (Utah Jazz)
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) is presenting a $10,000 donation to STEM Utah at halftime of the Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game on Saturday, March 28 in support of educational programs for K-12 students in STEM. Jordan Brady, an eighth-grade student at Kearns Junior High, will also receive the CenturyLink STEM Excellence Award. CenturyLink and the Utah Jazz are strong proponents of the importance of education, and have partnered through the years on programs that recognize educators and students and support local schools, said Randy Rigby, president of the Utah Jazz.
Utah students testing skills in space mission simulator at STEM Fest [VIDEO] (Fox13)
About 10,000 seventh and eighth graders are converging at a conference in Orem to test their tech skills. Its all about learning what you can do with STEM skills. Several Utah companies are showing the children how these skills apply to real-world jobs. The STEM Fest runs from March 25 to March 27 at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University. The event is open to the public Friday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to: Take flight in Hill Air Force Base`s flight simulator; Maneuver BYU`s underwater remote operated vehicle through a 200-gallon water tank; Learn coding basics from Google Fiber; Complete a mission in the USS Mercury Mobile Space Simulator..
Illinois
NIU STEM Café expands to Rockford to present 3D printing revolution (NIU Today)
Northern Illinois Universitys STEM Café is headed to Rockford for the first time Tuesday, April 7, where experts from NIU and EIGERlab will present The 3D Printing Revolution. The event is free and open to the public. Judith Dymond, who coordinates STEM Cafés for NIUs STEM Outreach, says she is excited to bring STEM Cafés to Rockford. The programs are not lectures, she says, but discussions where people can chat with experts and get their questions answered. These are fun, casual gatherings where adults can eat, drink and chat with STEM professionals about the latest scientific research, Dymond says.
STEM Innovation
5 Lessons On Innovation From Modern-Day Explorers And Adventurers (Fast Co.Exist)
 Like explorers, innovators are groundbreakers. They venture beyond the boundaries of our everyday knowledge to discover new ways of doing things. Countless inventions, like Velcro and the iPod, have been triggered by the same kinds of extreme constraints and challenges that real explorers face. When Arctic explorer Will Steger needed a way to see the sleds in front of and behind him in the dark Arctic nights on his North Pole expeditions, Land's End worked with him to invent a special reflective tape. For the price of a small development project, Lands End got a product it made serious money on. That tape is now used worldwide on every safety coat, bike gear, and running shoe. Lands End is not alone in using exploration to fuel invention. In studying more than 2,000 companies, the World Database of Innovation Initiative (WDI) has discovered that many of the highest-growth companies share one peculiarity: They invest in someone or something exploring the edge of human ability |
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Stay Connected       
 STEMconnector®
Million Women Mentors Launches New Web-Portal Technology to Elevate Women and Girls in STEM - 250,000 Have Pledged to Mentor
 Million Women Mentors (MWM) announces the release of the new portal at MillionWomenMentors.org, powered by Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), as well as the release of the MWM State of the States Report highlighting the first 29 states with our-year pledges and their strong leadership in MWM (Find the report on the web site under the Resource Section). The MWM movement will support girls and women in STEM through mentorship. The MWM team announced that over 250,000 pledges are committed since the launch January, 2014. The goal of the four year movement is to garner one million mentors (men and women) in STEM professions, to collectively increase the interest and confidence of girls and women in these high-demand and well-paying careers. The news is that 29 states that have made STEM mentor commitments along with major corporations and other organizations like Science Olympiad, National Girls Collaborative Project and The National 4-H Council.
What do the students have to say? - National Ag Day 2015 [VIDEO]
 On March 18, 2015, National Ag Day, the STEMconnector team travelled to the AFA Policy Institute at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center to interview some oustanding students about their futures in food and agriculture. Today, we're excited to share a few of the incredible responses we received on YouTube! This is only the first video in what we hope will be a continuing series. In the future, we will address other issues in food and agriculture education, such as reaching urban populations and underrepresented minorities, and innovative careers in food and agriculture.
Cooke Foundation Awards $1.6 Million in STEM Education Grants
 In recognition of the many barriers facing high-performing, low-income students interested in STEM, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has awarded $1,632,598 in STEM-focused educational grants. "We are squandering the talents of millions of students who would pursue successful and influential careers in STEM fields if only they had educational opportunities that prepared them early on," said Executive Director Harold O. Levy. "The Cooke Foundation is tackling this monumental waste by supporting organizations and programs that will put low-income middle and high school students on the path to studying STEM in college and beyond."
Foster Introduces Legislation To Support Next Generation of Makers, Innovators
 Yesterday, Representatives Bill Foster (IL-11) and Randy Hultgren (IL-14) reintroduced the bipartisan National Fab Lab Network Act to support advanced manufacturing and invest in the next generation of makers, entrepreneurs and innovators. Fab Labs are state-of-the-art fabrication laboratories available to the public throughout the country where children and adults can invent, design and manufacture products. The equipment can be used to design anything from tools, to motors, to data networks, to artwork. The first Fab Lab began as a project of MITs Center for Bits and Atoms, and has expanded to more than 450 locations throughout the world. |
