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Government
Feds give $5M to nuclear energy students (The Hill)
Ninety-one college students will split more than $5 million in Energy Department scholarships and fellowships to study in nuclear energy fields. Officials awarded 59 scholarships worth $7,500 each and 32 three-year graduate fellowships worth $50,000 per year to students pursuing "nuclear engineering degrees and other nuclear science and engineering programs relevant to nuclear energy," the department announced on Thursday. The department said the scholarships are part of the Obama administration's "efforts to expand clean energy innovation." More than 500 students have received $25 million in nuclear energy scholarships since 2009. 
STEM Jobs
The Companies Hiring The Most Tech Talent Right Now (Forbes)
Yesterday, Forbes reported on The Companies Hiring Most Right Now, and found that the bulk of the listed job openings required tech skills, even those in industries like healthcare and financial services. To get a sense of which companies currently have the most job openings specifically for tech professionals, Forbes consulted with employment search site Indeed.com. At the top of the list is aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin LMT +1.02%, with nearly 2,000 job openings currently posted, including Instructional Systems Designer, Aeronautical Engineer, and Network Data Communications Analyst. In second place is online marketplace Amazon, which is currently seeking a Design Technologist, Operations Manager, and Embedded Software Development Engineer.
STEM Competitions
An intense undersea robotics competition. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
More than 350 middle and high school students, most of them from New Jersey, vied Saturday in an intense underwater robot competition, testing capacities for flexibility, speed, navigation, engineering, and creativity, Next Saturday and Sunday, hundreds more from Pennsylvania schools will compete at the 10th Annual Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge at Drexel University. Both events are part of the national SeaPerch program, sponsored by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research, which culminates in a national competition next month in Massachusetts.
XPRIZE Contender Astrobotic Strives To Be FedEx To The Moon (TechCrunch)
Astrobotic Technology, a leading Google Lunar XPRIZE competitor, is setting up to become the first delivery service to the Moon. With a low-cost launch, they now have a lander with the potential for precision landings driven by new system on a chip (SOC) technologies developed by Nvidia with help from General Electric. Astrobotic knows that space and robotics are not that easy, but at a recent Nvidia-sponsored technology conference, the company?s engineers were presenting technologies that it argues could ease and accelerate the path to the Moon.
Higher Education
UNL wins $9.6 million NSF grant for nanotechnology research center (Nanowerk)
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has earned a $9.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and its nanotechnology research through 2020. Through this multidisciplinary center, UNL physicists, chemists and engineers collaborate to study nanostructures and materials that could lead to more energy-efficient electronic devices. The center receives a new name with this latest funding -- Polarization and Spin Phenomena in Nanoferroic Structures, or P-SPINS -- to reflect its expanding research focus on nanoferroic materials, which may one day transform electronics and computing technologies.
Student work and YSU facilities displayed at STEM showcase (The Vindicator)
The Youngstown State University College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will show off its high-tech labs and some of its best students at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Showcase 2 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday on campus. Also, $1,000 in scholarship money will be given away to prospective YSU STEM students who attend and complete a survey. The showcase is free, but guests are encouraged to register in advance. To register and for information, visit www.stemshowcase.ysustem.com.
Diversity in STEM
Women in STEM program providing free computer coding for female students at Queens high school (NY Daily News)
Female students at a Queens high school are getting free lessons in computer coding under a new program to boost girls? participation in [STEM]. City education officials and Verizon teamed up to create the Women in STEM (WinSTEM) after-school program at Energy Tech High School in Long Island City, where 50 girls are enrolled in classes that may become a model for similar efforts at other schools. The program is funded through a $20,000 grant from Verizon. The company also donated another $80,000 to pay for other STEM programs at other city high schools.
Code Documentary Maker: ?This Is a Rosie the Riveter Moment? (re/code)
The problem of a lack of women in technology runs deep. It can?t be easily fixed. But perhaps one way to step forward is to bundle together statistics, anecdotes, history and role models into a polished feature-length documentary. That?s the aim of ?Code: Debugging the Gender Gap,? debuting today at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film places much of the blame for tech?s lack of female representation on self-fulfilling stereotypes that coders are anti-social dudes (and, more recently, misogynistic brogrammers).
Chelmsford Student Participates in All Girl Challenge at Red Hat (Chelmsford Patch)
Five girls from Nashoba Valley Technical High School were among the 48 from local high schools and middle schools to participate in the recent All Girl Challenge at Red Hat in Westford, including Shayna Legros of Chelmsford. ?The All Girl Challenge gives middle- and high-school girls the opportunity to use their creativity and science, technology, engineering and math skills to help make the world a better place,? said DeLisa Alexander, executive vice president and chief people officer for Red Hat. ?As a company, we?ve long benefited from the technical talent in the greater Boston area, and this is a great way to give back to the community.?
Viewpoints
John Oliver takes on patent trolls in this hilarious segment (GeekWire)
If you?re creating a new technology or have a business idea beware. Patent trolls are everywhere. HBO?s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took on the world of companies that fish for other companies to sue for infringing on their patents, or, as Oliver puts it, ?legally binding dibs,? in this segment on ?patent trolls.? Thanks to technological advancements in the last few decades, especially with software development, the number of patent-related lawsuits has skyrocketed, costing ?investors half a trillion dollars since 1990,? Oliver reports.
Arthur H. Camins (Director, Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology): What the future of science education should look like (Washington Post)
For over five decades, dramatic calls for schools to improve science literacy have been driven by fears of external economic and military domination. Despite inducements to change, and a half-century of research-based consensus that students would be well served by more active learning and less lecture and memorization, the latter practices are still ubiquitous. While we remain the world?s leading generator of science and engineering innovation, far too many Americans lack sufficient understanding of the foundational principles of the scientific investigations and engineering designs that have improved our lives.
STEM Food & Ag
N.C. researchers: Here's something that could save farmers cash (Triangle Business Journal)
 Five electrical engineers say they?ve found a way to make North Carolina dairy farmers more profitable ? and it starts with a small RFID tag on a cow?s ear. The researchers, part of an undergraduate design class in electrical and computer engineering at N.C. State University, are using the RFID tags to tackle a tricky problem: how to improve an already cash-strapped industry with technology. Researcher Anthony Laws admits the trackers will cost farmers cash up front. The entire system would cost about $3,000 to implement, and he knows it?s cash not all farmers are willing to spend. "All the farmers in the U.S. have a very shoestring budget,? he says. ?They?re right at the verge of losing their farm. If one little thing goes wrong, they could possibly lose their entire farm and everything they have.? |
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Stay Connected       
 STEMconnector?
Wednesday @ 2PM: Join STEMconnector and AAUW for Solving the Equation Town Hall: Women in Engineering and Technology
 On April 22nd, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will partner with STEMconnector? to convene a virtual Town Hall to discuss the findings of its just-released report, Solving the Equation: The Variables for Women's Success in Engineering and Computing. In 1990, the percentage of women in computing occupations numbered 35%. Today, despite the exponential growth in this sector of the economy, the percentage of women employed in computing is even less: only 26%. Additionally, only 12% of engineers are women. Join us for an informative discussion with experts from higher education, industry, and nonprofits about this important issue and learn how educators, employers, STEM professionals, policymakers, parents, and girls can be a part of the solution.
HP Supports Women on the Front Lines of IT Security through 2015 Scholarship Funding
 HP, in collaboration with Applied Computer Security Associates (ACSA) and the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W), today announced the 15 winning recipients of the 2015 Scholarship for Women Studying Information Security (SWSIS). Now in its second year funding the scholarship, HP?s contributions to the SWSIS program reinforce its commitment to supporting women on the front lines of IT security through academic funding and hands-on internship opportunities. To ensure diversity in this workforce, HP also committed a $250,000 grant to the SWSIS scholarship program, to be distributed to winners over four years. Together, HP, ACSA and CRA-W have funded scholarships for undergraduates and masters? degree candidates from 13 colleges and universities across the United States. ?There is so much opportunity to pursue a career in the security field, and it?s great to see that HP and ASCA are encouraging more women to go down this path,? said Brooke Young, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Lockheed Martin Code Quest To Challenge And Inspire Hundreds Of Computer Programming Students
 Hundreds of high school students will visit several Lockheed Martin facilities across the U.S. to compete in a computer programming competition in the corporation's Fourth Annual Code Quest on April 18. Lockheed Martin developed Code Quest to challenge and inspire tomorrow's "coders" (programmers) to pursue information technology degrees as part of its focus on STEM outreach. Students will work in small teams through a set of coding challenges developed by Lockheed Martin information technology professionals, who will also assist students during the event. "From the gadgets in our hands to the vehicles that will explore deep space, programmers are advancing technology and changing our world," said Anne Mullins, Lockheed Martin chief information officer. |
