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STEM Competitions
March Madness becomes �Math Madness� for Amazon�s edtech company (GeekWire)
Today TenMarks, an education technology company acquired by Amazon a year-and-a-half ago, kicks off its fourth annual Math Madness competition for elementary, middle and high school students and teachers. The idea, not surprisingly, is to get kids excited about math. Teachers sign up for free, kids solve math problems, and after April 12th prizes are awarded to the top three classes in each grade-level group that �have the highest average questions answered per student.� In 2014, TenMarks says �students raced to answer millions of questions with more than 83.9% accuracy.� Grand prizes include sets of Fire HDX tablets, or a $500 Amazon gift card. Weekly prizes will be awarded to the class in each group that show the most improvement.
Lego League championship draws 700 children statewide (Baltimore Sun)
If Garrett County teacher Chuck Trautwein is right in saying children who don't develop spatial thinking skills by age 8 likely won't pick them up later, the 700 students competing in the FIRST Lego League state championship on Saturday at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County are ahead of the game. Many of the 9- to 14-year-olds who made up more than 70 teams competing in the Lego robotics competition have been dabbling with the plastic, boxy building blocks since before they started school. Teachers and parents say the kids' creativity fuels a passion for problem solving, and, by the time they're 8, they're on their way to grasping [STEM] concepts. 
Higher Education
Early YC Alums Rethink The College Summer Internship With New Program For Students (TechCrunch)
The summer internship isn�t about grabbing coffee anymore. A handful of early Y Combinator alums are testing a new type of summer program where they will give $10,000 to four or five teams this summer to build products. Called the Summer Founders program, its first site is at Pennsylvania State University, where Xobni and Sincerely founder Matt Brezina got his undergraduate degree. About a decade ago, Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham gave Brezina and his Xobni co-founder Adam Smith $12,000 to work on a startup idea for the summer. It changed his life.
Falling oil prices hurt job prospects for petroleum engineering students in Wyoming, Colorado (Casper Star-Tribune)
The downturn in oil prices has some petroleum engineering students at Wyoming and Colorado colleges rethinking their career choice. A year ago, petroleum engineering students were anticipating six-figure starting salaries for a bachelor's degree. But now that the oil price slide has turned to an oil price slump, jobs in the field are suddenly drying up. Evan Lowry was among those who enrolled in the University of Wyoming's petroleum engineering program based on job prospects at the time. He had originally thought about a chemical engineering career. "(I) switched just based off of the outlook for petroleum engineers," Lowry said.
Gianforte gives MSU $1 million to boost number of computer science grads (KBZK)
Greg Gianforte announced Monday that The Gianforte Family Foundation will give $1 million to Montana State University's College of Engineering and Computer Science Department in an effort to help educate and graduate greater numbers of computer science majors. The gift, secured through the MSU Alumni Foundation, earmarks $500,000 for three faculty positions in computer science and $500,000 to increase space for those teaching and studying the computer sciences. "Our Montana kids have an unmatched work ethic, but we're not preparing enough of them to go to work in our fast-growing high tech sector,� said Gianforte, who with his wife, Susan, founded RightNow Technologies.
Raspberry Pi
Eben Upton: The Raspberry Pi Pioneer (IEEE Spectrum)
In 1988, 10-year-old Eben Upton bought his first computer: a beat-up, secondhand BBC Micro. This little machine was ubiquitous in British schools at the time, not least because it ran a simple programming language called BASIC, which Upton quickly mastered and used to create various games. Fast-forward almost two decades. Upton had just been appointed director of studies in computer science at the University of Cambridge�s St John�s College. And he noticed a big problem: Applications to study computer science at the university were declining, and few incoming students had any programming skills at all.
PiJuice Adds Power To Your Pirojects (TechCrunch)
If you�ve ever used a Raspberry Pi you�ll notice that it�s great until you need to unplug it. While you can add a battery (the PiPhone had one), it�s not quite as easy as all that. Now, however, you can simply plug in the PiJuice and power your Pi on the fly. The PiJuice is a �hat� that fits on top of the Raspberry Pi and includes a 1400 mAh battery, integrated real time clock, and an onboard on/off switch. You can even sleep and wake and the Pi based on events. If you don�t know why this doesn�t sound amazing you probably have never wanted to build a portable wireless cat-food dispenser controller or a mobile Raspberry-Pi-powered rocket launching rig.
K-12 Education
SASD commits $200,000 more to manufacturing project (Sheboygan Press)
The Sheboygan Area School District has committed an additional $200,000 to a $5.6 million project that will upgrade technology education facilities at North and South high schools and further business and college collaborations aimed at graduating more skilled workers within the next two years. The project, called Red Raider Manufacturing, was discussed at the Board of Education meeting last week, where board members unanimously approved adding $200,000 to the $300,000 the district already has designated for the initiative.
Washington
Study: For every tech geek hired in Washington state, 7 jobs are added (GeekWire)
..what sort of impact occurs when a new engineer, programmer or developer is hired at one of the region�s fast-growing technology companies? A new study from the Washington Technology Industry Association finds that for every �code ninja� hired in Washington state, another seven jobs are added. The study defines these �code ninjas� as application software developers, computer systems programmers, computer engineers, network architects or computer science researchers. And when one of those roles is added to a company, it creates another 1.7 jobs within their own company and another 2.7 jobs across the wider economy for a multiplier effect of 7 jobs.
Maryland
WBAL-TV starts STEM campaign ahead of statewide festival [VIDEO] (WBAL)
WBAL-TV is starting a new campaign called STEM Station during the countdown to Maryland�s first statewide [STEM] Festival in the fall. Insta-Weather PLUS meteorologist Ava Marie, who is a big fan of all things science, is encouraging everyone to get in touch with their scientific sides. From Feb. 25 to November, WBAL-TV will be devoting extra coverage to STEM-related topics. Maryland's STEM Festival will run from Nov. 6-15, and there will be numerous events held statewide. There will be a launch celebration for the festival at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Maryland Science Center.
Iowa
Empowering high-ability middle school students in STEM (Oskaloosa Herald)
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Junior/Senior High is one of 11 rural schools in Iowa selected to participate in a rigorous extracurricular math and science enrichment program offered through the University of Iowa�s Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. The three-year program is aimed at empowering high-ability, middle school students living in rural school districts across the state with challenging opportunities in STEM. The STEM Excellence and Leadership program will provide year-round programming for educators and an estimated 120 students per year..
STEM Food & Ag
Food Riots Are Coming: Here's Where (Fast Co.Exist)
.jpg) Spikes in food prices tend to lead to social unrest. In 2007 and 2008, there were riots in 30 countries as commodities rose to record levels on global markets. Many analysts even say that food prices were an important background factor to the Arab Spring, starting in 2011. Going forward, all the ingredients are there for future instability. Though down from historic peaks, food prices, as measured by the Food and Agriculture Organization, are still higher than they've been in 30 years. And many people in import-dependent countries still spend a high proportion of income on food�up to 70% in places like Ghana and Pakistan. Climate change threatens to make things worse. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report forecast that food prices could rise 84% by 2050, mainly because of falling yields in countries already facing food insecurity issues. Yields of rice in Thailand, India, and Vietnam are predicted to decline by almost 40% by the 2080s, for example. |
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 STEMconnector�
Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program Application Open in Select Cities until March 6
 Due to exponential growth, Girls Who Code is welcoming additional applicants for three of its summer programs this year. Girls in 10th and 11th grade have until Friday, March 6th at 11:59 PM PST to submit their applications in Boston, MA, Springfield, MA, and Seattle, WA. Girls Who Code is partnering with Akamai Technologies, Google, Microsoft, TripAdvisor and Twitter to host programs in Boston, MA. In Seattle, programs will be hosted at Adobe, Amazon, AT&T, Expedia, Google, and Microsoft, and in Springfield, programs will be hosted by MassMutual. The Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program represents an innovative approach to computer science education, pairing seven weeks of intensive instruction in robotics, web design, and mobile development with engaging, career-focused mentorship and exposure led by the industry's top female entrepreneurs and engineers. Participation is free and no prior CS experience is required, just an interest in learning more about Computer Science in an encouraging environment.
Today's 100 Diverse Leader in STEM: Shelly Swanback- Group Operating Officer of Accenture
 "Take time to enjoy your life outside of work. I�m very proud of what I do as a wife and a mother. I�ve coached my son�s and daughter�s soccer, basketball and baseballs teams. People ask me how I balance my time and make this work with my career. My answer is that I make it work because I love doing it, and I find that when I am enjoying what I do outside of work, it positively reflects on my work at Accenture."
X-STEM Extreme Symposium Explores How To Turn Math Haters into Math Lovers!
 Connecting students in meaningful ways with how math is applied to solve real-life problems is key to exciting young learners about frontiers in mathematics. At the X-STEM Extreme Symposium discover the motivating techniques that mathematical scientist Padhu Seshaiyer of George Mason University is using to turn students from math haters to math lovers! Tickets are going fast for this event presented by the USA Science & Engineering Festival and sponsor MedImmune, so get yours today!
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. |
