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Diversity in STEM
Zoe Husted: Girls Who Code: Connecting GenDIY Women to STEM (Huffington Post)
I am a rising junior at Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego, California and this summer I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the Girls Who Code summer immersion program hosted by Expedia in Seattle, Washington. 20 rising juniors and seniors in high school attend the free program at their host company from 9 AM to 4 PM, 5 days a week. The point of the program is take girls who have little to no background in computer science and provide them with a chance to learn about computer science and potential careers in technology.
Getting Latino Students Focused Early On STEM Is Focus Of DC Conference (NBC News)
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that there are currently two science and tech job openings for every applicant, while at the same time calculating that nearly half of all new jobs in the next decade will be STEM related. That's something organizers of the sixth-annual Nuestro Futuro Latino Education Conference want to change. By bringing in students as young as the eighth grade to speak with professionals in the field, the conference looked to spark an early interest among Latino students in the rapidly expanding academic majors and professions of the future.
Holiday Gift Guide: Women in STEM Fields Dolls and Action Figures (Scientific American)
In recent years there's been a relative dearth of toy representations of women and girls with interests or careers in the sciences particularly women and girls of color. But thanks to heightened public interest in such offerings, this year marks what I hope is the beginning of a sea change, with quite a few new options in these areas. The following is a selection of currently available female action figures and dolls in [STEM] for the young ones in your life.
UW-Platteville sees 72 percent growth in women in engineering, math, science (WISC-TV)
The number of women enrolled in those programs has increased by 72 percent, and overall college enrollment has increased by 34 percent, according to campus officials. The release said that the growth can be attributed, in part, to programs like the Women in Engineering, Mathematics, and Science which is aimed at creating a more diverse, competitive and balanced workforce. Kim Sargent, special programs manager for the Women in EMS program, attributes the growth to a combination of the many programs and events that are offered for both pre-college and college women. 
Higher Education
Combining science and consideration: UGA researchers work to build empathy into engineering program (University of Georgia)
When Mark Hain decided to leave his job as an emergency medical technician to pursue a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Georgia, he assumed he would immediately get his hands dirty designing and building projects. Instead, he found himself in a design course analyzing and discussing in detail how his work as an engineer might impact othersand questioning whether certain projects should be built at all. The class was one of the first in the UGA College of Engineering designed to introduce students to empathy as a learned skill. Researchers in the college and in the School of Social Work are investigating how engineering students can best develop empathic skills to enhance their approach to professional practice.
Chinese nonprofit to fund $32M in scholarships for students to go to CMU (Pittsburgh Business Times)
A nonprofit organization with ties to China's Ministry of Education will provide $32 million in funding over the next five years for up to 20 doctoral students to attend Carnegie Mellon University. The agreement calls for the China Scholarship Council to fund tuition and a stipend for two years for doctoral students and partial tuition and a stipend for two years for as many as four master's degree students. CMU will also provide support, the university said. The doctoral programs included will be science, technology, engineering and math, social sciences, humanities, design and architecture.
Coding
Having Success With Code Bootcamps: A Guide For Employers And Bootcamp Grads (TechCrunch)
Anyone hiring engineers in tech knows how much competition there is for talent; there just arent enough good engineers to go around. As a result of the incredibly high demand for talent, the supply side has responded by launching coding bootcamps all over the country and, indeed, the world. Thousands of post-college adults are dropping their careers and spending months and many thousands of dollars in these bootcamps to become engineers. Ive heard quite a lot of skepticism about the coding bootcamps and, frankly, wouldnt have considered hiring tech talent from them myself if the folks over at Cogo Labs hadnt had success with it first.
Viewpoints
Thomas A. Kennedy, Ph.D. (Chairman & CEO, Raytheon) & Jim Clark (President & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of America): Students Need STEM Education for 21st Century Economy (U.S. News & World Report)
High school seniors are gearing up for college admissions. Hundreds of thousands just took the SAT. Many more will soon sit for the ACT. Applications for early admission are due this month. Yet at graduation in June, many high school seniors will find themselves unprepared for college and the workforce. Young Americans lag behind their foreign peers in the STEM fields.. Efforts to improve STEM education have focused largely on changing what and how we teach students at school. But kids spend just seven hours each day and 180 days each year in the classroom on average.
STEM Competitions
Congressional App Challenge encourages STEM knowledge (WSLS)
High School students can create an app for the Congressional App Challenge. Its a way for students to be creative and use STEM education. Congressman Robert Hurt is encouraging students in our area to compete. Students around the country will be entering. Apps are judged on the idea, design, coding and programming skills. The winning app will be on display in the U.S. Capitol. You have until January 15th. This year marks the second annual Congressional [STEM] Academic Competition, the Congressional App Challenge.
Nevada
Partial Common Core test data show Nevada kids lag in math (AP)
Most Nevada students aren't proficient in math and reading, according to partial Common Core test results released Wednesday following a massive computer meltdown that left most of the state's students unable to participate in the federally mandated annual assessment. The Nevada Department of Education said there are English scores for approximately 71,000 students, although only about 65,000 of them finished both the math and English portions. More than 213,000 students were expected to take the computerized exams but most of the Las Vegas-based Clark County School District couldn't even log on. The fifth largest school district in the country makes up 70 percent of the state's students. A total of 329 schools in Nevada have asked the state for leniency.
Kansas
State goal to increase college degrees in engineering (Topeka Capital-Journal)
A career in science is beckoning to high school senior Abby Heitzman. The Holton High School student plans on studying aerospace engineering at Wichita State University. I really fell in love with the idea of designing airplanes, Heitzman said Thursday as she and her physics classmates worked individually on laptops, developing figurines on modeling software for production on a nearby 3-D printer. Kansas is looking for more students like Heitzman. As part of a multiyear plan, the state has a goal of increasing college degrees in engineering to 1,365 annually by 2021, compared with 875 in 2008.
STEM Food & Ag
USDA, Department of Education grants support UTSA minorities in engineering and sciences (UTSA)
 Two new grants are supporting top-tier opportunities for minorities in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education and research at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Krystel Castillo, GreenStar Endowed Professor in Energy, and her BioEnergy and Water for Agriculture Research and Education (BE AWARE) Network has received $1,000,000 over fours years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture. Additionally, Hongjie Xie, UTSA professor of geology, has received $748,705 from the U.S. Department of Education to promote new research opportunities for minority students, especially women in earth sciences and engineering. The BE AWARE Network is a collaborative project between UTSA, UT-Rio Grande Valley, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, several community colleges and multiple U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies. |
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100 CIO/CTO Leaders in STEM- Kathy Fish, Chief Technology Officer at Proctor & Gamble
 "Diversity plays a powerful role in driving innovation. Innovation doesnt happen in a straight line. We are successful when we bring together individuals from different backgrounds, cultures and thinking styles in order to connect seemingly unconnected ideas. The healthy tension that comes from a diverse, well-functioning team is whats needed to deliver big, breakthrough innovations that lead to the long-term growth of our business."
Ingram Micro Expands Professional Services with Higher Education Program for Channel Partners
 Ingram Micro Inc. today announced a strategic alliance with Apollo Education Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, University of Phoenix, to offer channel partners training and degree programs focused on growing critical business skills within their organizations. The new education services will be available to all Ingram Micro channel partners in the U.S., and are part of the IT business leaders fast-growing Professional Services organization.
Following Colberts Lead, CA Technologies Funds DonorsChoose.org STEM Teacher Requests in Nevada
 As CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) closes out its annual CA World event in Las Vegas, the companys CEO, Mike Gregoire, announced at a Lake Mead bike event that CA will fund all existing high-need STEM DonorsChoose.org teacher requests in Nevada. These are the highest poverty schools in the state, where at least 40% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch. The $100,000 contribution was inspired by The Late Show host and DonorsChoose.org Board of Director Stephen Colbert, who funded all South Carolina teacher requests earlier this year.
This April: Join Some of Americas Most Prominent Companies at the Festival & Expo to Inspire Students in STEM!
 Corporate America represents one of the nation's largest supporters and employers in STEM. And at the USA Science & Engineering Festival & Expo in April you'll experience the collective power of these firms when they gather as hands-on sponsors and exhibitors to wow the next generation of innovators in science and engineering! Companies such as: Lockheed Martin (the Festival's founding and presenting host), MedImmune (presenter of the Festival's Extreme STEM Symposium), InfoComm International (presenter of the Festivals Nifty Fifty school visits), Booz/Allen/Hamilton (presenter of the Festivals Career Pavilion), Chevron, Illumina, Forbes/Wolfe, Genentech, Bose, and many others. |
