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STEM Competitions
A nonprofit just booked a trip to the moon with SpaceX (Mashable)
An Israel-based nonprofit competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize now has a ride to the lunar surface and a legitimate chance to become the first private group to land a spacecraft on the moon. SpaceIL announced Wednesday that it has a contract to fly to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. If SpaceIL or another team competing for the X Prize succeeds, it will effectively open up access to the moon, which was once only accessible for nations.
Broadcom MASTERS® Announces 2015 National Middle School STEM Competition Winners (PRNewswire)
Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public (SSP) today announced the top winners of the fifth annual Broadcom MASTERS(R) national STEM competition for sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Broadcom Foundation and SSP also announced first and second place winners in each of the STEM categories, Rising Stars, and a Team Award. In addition, students elected their class speaker, the first recipient of the Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award honoring Broadcom's President and CEO who has championed sponsorship of the program since 2010.
Is your AI as smart as an 8th grader? Prove it to Paul Allens AI2 for a shot to win $50K (GeekWire)
Are you working on AI that can handle general science questions at an 8th grade level? If so, you will want to enter this new competition for a chance to win $50,000. Paul Allens organization, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), is partnering with Kaggle, an online collective of data scientists, to challenge anyone students or researchers to step up and test their AIs abilities. Each AI system will have to answer a large set of multiple-choice science questions set at the 8th grade level. The system that gets the most questions right wins $50,000, with second and third prizes set at $20,000 and $10,000, respectively. 
Diversity in STEM
Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College): Increasing Education Opportunities For Minorities In STEM (Forbes)
This summer I had the honor of attending an event that brought together educators and industry leaders involved in improving the state of STEM education in the U.S. During a panel discussion, I was asked whether I was encouraged or discouraged by where we are today in terms of diversity in STEM education. I am definitely encouraged, but we still have far to go to achieve equity in STEM education for minorities who have been historically underrepresented in STEM fields. African-American, Latino and Native American students still lag far behind their white and Asian counterparts in terms of participation in math, science and engineering fields.
Cedar Valley STEM career grants boost black men (Dallas Morning News)
A new, innovative program will help steer black men at Cedar Valley Community College toward [STEM] careers. Cedar Valley recently was approved for a $2.5 million grant that aims to attract and retain 6,000 black men and women in higher education over five years and increase by 15 percent the number of black men in STEM courses over that period. The first payment of more than $575,000 is expected to cover this month through September 2016, officials say. Dr. Jennifer Wimbish, Cedar Valleys president, said that successful programs at the college are some of the citys best-kept secrets and that the public should know more about them.
STEM Media
Ioannis Miaoulis (President, Museum of Science, Boston): We Need Engineering Heroes (Huffington Post)
While there has been much concern about innovation in the United States, engineering is often undervalued. So kids are more likely to dream of being sports stars and rock musicians than engineers. But without exciting role models, students are unlikely to pursue the field. To inspire the next generation of inventors, we need heroes who are engineers. Astronaut Mark Watney -- played by Matt Damon in director Ridley Scott's epic 3-D film, The Martian, released October 2 -- is a great example. Marooned on the lethal Red Planet, this plucky astronaut with engineering skills figures out how to make water, grow food, and restore communication with NASA to survive. So far, audiences love him.
Higher Education
Q&A: Author discusses his new book, 'Revolution in Higher Education' (Inside Higher Ed)
Richard DeMillo is a scholar of the evolution of higher education and a proponent of change. The Charlotte B. and Roger C. Warren Chair of Computing and director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at the Georgia Institute of Technology, DeMillo explored this evolution in a 2011 book, Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities (MIT Press). Now, he's back with a new book, also from MIT, Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable. DeMillo responded via email to questions about the book.
UIndy to offer engineering degree (Indy Star)
The University of Indianapolis will offer a program for bachelors degrees in engineering, beginning in the fall of 2016. Students will be able to major in industrial engineering and software engineering, which are two fields of study not widely offered in Central Indiana. The majors will combine UIndy's traditional liberal arts education with science and math courses, said Robert Manuel, president of the university. The move was largely orchestrated to help bring the university in line with the need for people educated in [STEM].
Robots Patty and Ray are promoting PCCs STEM Center (Pueblo Chieftain)
We have finally arrived to that future where Marty McFly visits his son, himself and the futuristic Back to the Future Part II city of Hill Valley. Although there are no hover boards and flying cars running amok above the Steel City, like the 1989 movie depicts, there are robots serving humans. At the STEM Center at Pueblo Community College Patty and Ray are moving about under the tutelage of students Michele Barnes and Walter Jones. The robots, named after PCC President Patty Erjavec and her husband Ray, are new learning tools with automated charisma that are part of the new center in its inaugural year.
Tennessee
Tennessee Leads the Nation in Making STEM Curriculum available to ALL (PRNewswire)
The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, through legislative support, has made a bold move leading the country in making a supplemental STEM career awareness curriculum available at no cost to all middle schools in the state. The online technology, Learning Blade(R), from Chattanooga-based Thinking Media introduces STEM opportunities in a unique format demonstrating the benefits of STEM careers for society. STEM careers in Tennessee are expected to grow 16% with over 25,000 new jobs by 2024 and nationally STEM jobs are growing at almost twice the rate as non-STEM careers
STEM Food & Ag
The State Of Agtech (TechCrunch)
 Almost two centuries ago, Jethro Tull used his new horse-drawn seed drill to individually plant seeds, replacing the traditional broadcast method. An early form of precision agriculture, his ingenious tool dramatically increased yield and led to an agricultural revolution. Another early agricultural entrepreneur, Robert Bakewell, perfected his in-and-in breeding system in the late 1700s so that farmers could selectively breed livestock for specific characteristics. During the last century, Norman Borlaug, an American biologist, launched the Green Revolution by developing new seed varieties, especially with wheat, that so that millions of people around the world could find adequate sustenance. Now, in the second millennium, we are challenged in new ways to increase productivity while minimizing inputs, managing costs and respecting the environment. |
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 STEMconnector®
Chevron and NAE Team Up to Bring the Engineering Design Process to PreK-12 Classrooms
 Almost all of the 30 fastest-growing jobs over the next decade will require STEM skills, with engineering jobs expected to grow 12 percent between 2014 and 2024. With the demand for a workforce skilled in science and engineering only increasing, creating the next generation of engineers is critical to the U.S. economy. As our world becomes more complex and dependent on technology, it is imperative that the general population is technologically and scientifically literate with a basic understanding of what engineering is and what engineers do. In order to ensure that tomorrows workforce is equipped to fill the jobs of the future, educators must have the tools they need to adequately instruct our students, starting from a young age.
Des Moines Area Community College To Host 1,000+ Students For STEM Career Accelerator Day Activities 2015
_logo.jpg) Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) plans to host 1,000+ students in Ankeny, Iowa as part of the global campaign, STEM Career Accelerator Day 2015 (#STEMCAD2015). On October 19, DMACC will host 1,000 students from local schools with more than 10 activities planned to engage students throughout the day. Forty interactive booths will be employed where faculty, partners, non-profit organizations, and educators will feature STEM activities with different challenges to make learning exciting. Students will receive information about specific post-secondary education pathways in STEM, including academic programs, college planning resources, financial aid, and informal-community based programs. DMACC will also hold a program hosting 250 students from Project Lead the Way, Career Experience Classes, and STEM Academy partner high schools. Approximately 50% of students at this site are expected to be young women, and 25% are expected to be from a minority background. More than 50 employees from local STEM employers will be participate in the program, many from backgrounds similar to the students.
Anita Krishnamurthi (VP of STEM Policy, Afterschool Alliance): Full STEM Ahead! New America After 3PM special report on STEM released
 Last week, we released our first ever special report on afterschool STEM learning based on our 2014 America After 3PM survey data. Full STEM Ahead: Afterschool Programs Step Up as Key Partners in STEM Education is the first comprehensive look at parental perceptions of STEM programming offered by afterschool providers and examines demand, access and satisfaction both nationally and by state. learning based on our 2014 America After 3PM survey data. |
