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Diversity in STEM
Rep. Kennedy and Latino STEM Alliance push for equal access to job training education (Daily Free Press)
U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III joined the Latino STEM Alliance on Monday for a roundtable regarding expanding access to education in STEM. The collaboration took place following the reintroduction of Kennedy�s STEM Gateways Act, which would ensure that federal STEM efforts are put toward reaching minorities, women and low-income communities, according to a Monday press release. Many other entrepreneurs and leaders in the education community were present at the roundtable, including Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, Latino Nursing Association President Judy Cullinane and Care.com co-founder and president Donna Levin, the release stated. The STEM Gateways Act, which Kennedy reintroduced this month, would provide federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education to help schools implement STEM curricula in the classroom, with a special focus on reaching underrepresented groups in the field..
John Deere introduces girls to STEM careers (Ottumwa Courier)
The areas first ever Latino 4-H group watched as robots welded pieces of round balers and other John Deere machinery together during a plant tour of the Ottumwa plant Thursday. The informational event brought dozens of local Girl Scouts and 4-H members to the plant to celebrate Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, which is meant to open the eyes of young women to the endless possibilities an engineering degree can bring. "Girls are very under-represented within the engineering major, so during this event we are trying to get them interested in [STEM]," said John Deere Program Manager Amber Pargman.
How One Chicago Start-Up is Working to Close the Transgender Employment Gap (Chicago Magazine)
Angelica Ross, 34, teaches coding, graphic design, and web skills to trans Chicagoans through her nonprofit, TransTech Social Enterprises. She spoke with Chicago recently about issues facing transgender people in the workplace. What does your program, TransTech, do?: When you work online, nobody cares what you sound and look like. It�s about whether you can get the job done. That�s why [freelance work on the web] is a superfertile environment for us across industries, from writers to designers to coders. Trans people just haven�t been shown this path to independence. 
Higher Education
UTSA unveils plans for its new Rackspace-backed Open Cloud Institute (San Antonio Business Journal)
The University of Texas at San Antonio is partnering with Rackspace co-founder and Chairman Graham Weston on the creation of the Open Cloud Institute, which will develop degree programs in cloud computing and big data with the collaboration of leading industry groups. The institute will launch with funding and in-kind investments totaling $9 million. That includes a $4.8 million gift from Weston's 80/20 Foundation to support four endowed professorships, up to two faculty research positions and 10 graduate student endowments.
Organization helps engineering students study overseas (LSU Reveille)
The College of Engineering and the Office of International Programs have partnered together to make it easier for engineering students to study abroad. The University joined the Global Engineering Education Exchange last spring. The organization is geared specifically to engineering and computer science students who wish to study overseas. There are currently over 70 member Universities located in 23 countries around the world. Students pay University tuition � TOPS is applicable � whether they decide to study in Japan, The Netherlands, Egypt or any of the other 20 countries the Global Engineering Education Exchange offers.
Industry
Microsoft encourages employees to donate their time to non-profits with new program (GeekWire)
Microsoft just launched a new Tech Talent for Good program that encourages its employees to get out into the community and offer their skills to non-profit organizations that could use a hand with technical problems. The company started by partnering with 20 non-profits in Washington, including Food Lifeline, Year Up Puget Sound, the Bellevue Arts Museum and Washington FIRST Robotics. Under the new program, Microsoft is working with those organizations to identify specific projects that could use technical help, and then offering those opportunities to employees so they can pick a project that�s right for their skill set.
K-12 Education
City receives $5.5M grant for AP classes in computer science that focus on STEM (New York Daily News)
The Department of Education has received a four-year grant to bring an Advanced Placement curriculum called �Beauty and Joy of Computing� to New York City. The program was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, for students who aren�t computer science majors. Teacher training starts in the coming months and the program will be available to about 30 classes of students in the fall. The city plans to expand that number as more teachers are trained with a special focus on girls and minorities, who are underrepresented in STEM fields. The National Science Foundation has provided a four-year $5.5 million grant to the city, Berkeley, the Education Development Center and the New York City Foundation for Computer Science Education to develop a curriculum and train 100 New York City teachers.
Former NFL player promotes STEM education (Quad-City Times)
Former NFL player William White used his Super Bowl ring and stories of his life's path to help hundreds of Davenport students Thursday understand that education is the foundation for their success. ''If you get a nice solid education, especially in STEM.. you can be successful," said White, who today is the Midwest region vice president of Project Lead The Way. The national nonprofit provides STEM curriculum to more than 5,000 elementary, middle and high schools. White, who holds a metallurgical engineering degree from Ohio State University, told the 1,500 intermediate and high school students gathered at Davenport West High that "you can fool a lot of people.. but the one you can't fool is yourself.
EdTech
PhotoMath Brings Its Awesome Math Equation Solving App To Android (TechCrunch)
PhotoMath is a nifty little app. You point your phone camera at a math equation, and it will give you the answer and show you all the steps to solve this particular equation. Following its huge success in the App Store, the app is coming to Android. When I first played with PhotoMath before the team took the stage in our Battlefield competition at Disrupt London, I was impressed by its design and overall user experience. Solving a math equation with a computer is nothing new � WolframAlpha has been doing that for years. But typing an equation inside WolframAlpha�s app is a painful process. With PhotoMath, you point, you shoot and you�re done.
National Engineers Week
Rep. Lipinski Recognizes National Engineers Week (Chicago Tribune)
Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) has introduced a resolution in support of National Engineers Week, which is being celebrated the last week of February. As a former educator and one of just a dozen trained engineers in Congress, Lipinski introduces this resolution every year in order to highlight the critical role that engineers play in building our nation and the need to encourage more young people to pursue a career in engineering. "Engineering is problem solving, and we need more engineers to help solve many of the problems that face our nation and the world," said Rep. Lipinski.
West Virginia
House Education Committee passes bill to repeal Common Core (Charleston Gazette)
In a bipartisan voice vote with few nays sounded, the House of Delegates Education Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would repeal Common Core-based education standards in West Virginia. The legislation, which now goes to the full House, would fly in the face of the �countless hours� that state Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano said educators spent developing lessons to teach the math and English/language arts standards, which are based on the national Common Core blueprint and were only fully implemented in the Mountain State this school year. �The cost of developing and implementing the new West Virginia standards is estimated at over $42 million,� Martirano wrote..
STEM Food & Ag
3 Designs That Imagine The Sci-Fi Future Of Farming In 100 Years (Fast Co.Exist)
.jpg) By 2115, it's possible that a megadrought might end most agriculture in California, blistering summers might move wine production out of Italy, and rising sea levels might wipe out rice crops in Bangladesh. The future of farming is uncertain. As agriculture shifts, so will technology. In a new project, artist Kaitlyn Schwalje looks at three imagined products that respond to changes in agriculture a century from now. "I chose 100 years as a not-too-distant future," Schwalje says. "It serves as a theatrical platform on which to play out emerging discoveries and contemporary discourse on everything affecting agricultural production, from policy to climate change." The designs are science fiction but based in reality. "Each future has a footing in emerging research, and speaks to the human species' tendency to manipulate the environment for its own gain," explains Schwalje. |
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Today's 100 Diverse Leader in STEM: Kimberly Stevenson- Corporate VP & CIO of Intel
 "To curb the STEM education crisis, we first need to get kids excited about STEM fields - so they say things like, �I want to be an engineer when I grow up.� Awareness around engineering is also critical. Our research shows that teens don�t know or appreciate what an engineering career entails. Many associate engineering with transportation or maintenance. However, when you have the opportunity to explain what a career in engineering is and the income potential, you can change their minds about pursuing a career in the field of engineering. We found roughly 60 percent of teens are more likely to consider engineering after learning about the career's earning potential."
Get Ready for Spirited Discussion on the �Plasma Controversy� at the X-STEM Symposium this April!
 Plasma holds a predominant place in the universe, so much that some plasma scientists contend that it is not the fourth state of matter, but the first state. But textbooks, for the most part, do not mention plasmas in this context. At the X-STEM Extreme Symposium in April, plasma scientist Andrew Zwicker of Princeton University explains why plasmas often �get no respect� in science education, and what can be done about it! He is one of many exciting and provocative visionaries you�ll meet at the X-STEM Symposium presented by the USA Science & Engineering Festival and sponsored by MedImmune. The Symposium is a �limited tickets� event, so register NOW!
100 Diverse Leaders in STEM Rising Star: Barbara McAllister Whye- Director, Innovation for Employability of Intel
 "My vision is that all learners will have access to a quality STEM education, and that the quality of one�s education will not be dependent on their zip code. I know that not all students will be STEM students, but every student should know what opportunities are available to them. To achieve this vision, we must expose students to STEM early and shift from the idea that �math is hard� to �math is life.�"
From Young Minds Come Fresh Solutions
 The Clean Tech Competition is the only worldwide research and design challenge for students ages 15-18. This competition is administered by The Center for Science Teaching and Learning, a science center in Rockville Centre, NY. |
