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Tuesday, June 30, 2015
U.S. News STEM Solutions
Engaging Parents in Kids' STEM Education (U.S. News & World Report)
Working with parents has helped various nonprofits expose children to STEM jobs. Speakers at the U.S. News STEM session "Engaging Parents in their Children's STEM Education" in San Diego on Monday shared strategies their organizations have used that have worked, and what they have learned. Helping parents learn about STEM, they said, can bring their children along as well. "They love that they can spend uninterrupted time with their children learning," says Ellen Peneski, executive director of the San Diego Science Alliance, who moderated the panel. "Don't be afraid of saying, 'I don't know.' Say, 'Let's go find out.'"

Take STEM From the Classroom to the Boardroom (U.S. News & World Report)
For some students, one of the biggest obstacles to pursuing a career in [STEM] is a lack of a way to picture themselves doing the jobs in real life. A panel of STEM industry and education experts discussed how businesses can partner with schools and communities to better engage students in STEM and ensure that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the workforce. The panelists included Patricia Brown, national director of corporate engagement for the National Academy Foundation; Russ Fisher-Ives, director of global programs for RoboRAVE International; Meisha Sherman, director of global talent and organizational development for Hewlett-Packard; and Ed Hidalgo, senior director of staffing at Qualcomm.

Parents Key in Attracting Girls to STEM (U.S. News & World Report)
Parents play a pivotal role in helping build early interest in [STEM] a foundation crucial for keeping children, and especially girls, interested in pursuing education and work in STEM fields. "It starts with parents, and it starts with them really modeling the behavior and embracing curiosity," New York Times bestselling author Andrea Beaty, speaking at the 2015 U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference in San Diego, said during a panel Monday. "We know readers become readers when they find it important, when they look at their parents and see they're readers. It sends the message that this is important."

Partnerships, Retention Programs Key for Helping Minorities Succeed in STEM (U.S. News & World Report)
Many historically black schools are without some of the glitzy amenities that can be found at majority-Caucasian institutions. Tuskegee University in Alabama, for example, may not have the newest labs but it offers something else that can help students of color excel, says school president Brian Johnson. "The sense of community," he says. Johnson was joined by Kim A. Wilcox, chancellor of University of California?Riverside, and Ricardo Romo, president of the University of Texas?San Antonio for a panel discussion on June 29 at the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference in San Diego. Mark D. Vaughn, manager for the Technical Talent Pipelining for Corning's Technology Community and lead for the Technology Community Office of STEM, moderated the discussion..

For Veterans to Prosper in STEM Workforce, Employers Need to Help With Post-Military Transition (U.S. News & World Report)
After serving for Uncle Sam, veterans often have skills that would make them ideal employees in a range of industries, but four words can keep them in the unemployment line: post-traumatic stress disorder. Mike Grice, a member of the board of directors for Medtech and Biotech Veterans Program, has heard his fair share of people say, "We don't hire veterans because they're a liability." People think they'll go "postal" because of PTSD, says Grice, who served for 27 years in the United States Marine Corps. But PTSD isn't something that just affects veterans, he said, during a panel discussion at the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference on June 29 in San Diego.
Diversity in STEM
The Andreessens just gave $250K to support LGBT groups in tech (GeekWire)
Here is some fantastic news to close out Pride Month: Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife philanthropist Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen are giving $250,000 to two organizations that support LGBT people in tech. According to USA Today, the Andreessens are supporting Trans*H4CK, which holds hackathons to develop new products for the trans and gender nonconforming community, and Lesbians Who Tech, a group that holds networking and educational events around the world. Lesbians Who Tech was also featured in our ?Out in Tech? article about diversity. As we reported, funding is considered ?murky? for the LGBT community because federal guidelines do not recognize them as an ?underrepresented minority.?

Diversity In Action magazine inspires today's youth in STEM Education [VIDEO] (My Fox NY)
STEM is aimed at getting kids ready for opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. Jordan Weiss, president of Diversity In Action-Know America Media, and Tony Howell, executive director of the Educational Opportunity Program at NJIT, discuss their partnership and how the Diversity In Action magazine inspires today's youth.
Higher Education
LCC focuses on manufacturing with new pilot program (Lansing State Journal)
Lansing Community College is in search of applicants for a new, free pilot program aimed at helping students enter the field of manufacturing. Thanks in part to a grant from the Michigan Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing, as many as 20 LCC students will receive production technician certification through hands-on and classroom exercises beginning July 7 at LCC?s West Campus. The program is meant to give students a set of standard entry-level skills for today?s employers, said Bo Garcia, executive director of the Business and Community Institute at LCC.
Viewpoints
Bahija Jallal (Executive VP, AstraZeneca) & Brian Gaines (President, MdBio Foundation): To build a STEM workforce, listen to the scientists (Washington Post)
Dina Link may not be a household name, but she holds one of the most important jobs in the American economy: high school science teacher. At Northwest High School in Germantown, Md., she helps mold the next generation of scientists so that they can compete for jobs in an economy dominated by [STEM]. Too often, however, teachers like Ms. Link aren?t given a clear picture of the types of skills America?s top STEM employers want from tomorrow?s workforce. Nor do they always know what inspires a high school student to become a genetic engineer later in life. This gap in knowledge is one of several obstacles America must overcome if we are to lead the world in STEM workforce development.
SpaceX
Understanding The Aftermath Of SpaceX?s Failed Falcon Launch (TechCrunch)
On Sunday morning, SpaceX?s Falcon 9 rocket broke apart nearly 30 miles above Cape Canaveral just a few minutes after launch, marking its first full mission failure. The rocket was taking the Dragon capsule, carrying more than 4,000 pounds of supplies, to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX had previously completed six successful resupply missions to the ISS, the latest one in April. While there were no humans on board and no accidents on the ground, the lost cargo contained over 4,000 pounds of food, water, and science experiments for the crew on station. William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, stated that the ISS crew will be fine and has sufficient supplies for the next four months.

High Schoolers' Experiment Lost Again on Launch Failure (AP)
Three high school students were going to get the science lesson of a lifetime by flying their experiment in space. Instead they got a life lesson about loss, but more importantly about determination, as they watched their experiment get wiped out for the second straight time by a rocket failure on Sunday. The students from North Charleston, South Carolina, had come up with an intricate electronics circuitry experiment. It was supposed to fly last October to the International Space Station on an Antares rocket out of Wallops Island, Virginia. But it blew up as they watched from only 1.7 miles away. Joe Garvey was knocked over by the blast coming off the launch pad. Rachel Lindbergh felt the heat on her face.
STEM Jobs
Tech Visionaries Share Their Best Career Advice With Interns (TechCrunch)
Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, was the final speaker of the evening at Internapalooza, and despite the fact that the high-energy group of a couple thousand Silicon Valley interns had been sitting through nearly two hours of speakers, they were listening on bated breath. The intern event, held at Parc 55 in San Francisco, had attracted representatives from some of the biggest names in the industry: Apple, Airbnb, Palantir, Andreesen Horowitz and dozens of others. It also hosted a group of speakers, consisting of billionaires, founders, CEOs and venture capitalists, that imparted their wisdom to the next generation of Silicon Valley leaders that were in attendance.

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The EdTech Weekly Report: June 30, 2015
In this week's all-new EdTech Weekly Report, we follow updates from the ISTE 2015 conference, coding platform One Month raises $1.9M, Google Classroom releases new API and share button for classrooms, NMC Horizon Report for 2015 released, zSpace unveils world?s first all-in-one desktop virtual reality solution for education, and much more!

Enlightened, On-Ramps to Careers and Mayor Invest in DC?s Future Through STEM Internships
Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Department of Employment Services kicked off the first day of the city?s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) today with Enlightened, Inc. ("Enlightened"), a leading provider of Information Technology (IT) consulting services and On-Ramps to Careers, Inc. (ORTC), a non-profit partnership that has enlisted twenty tech organizations to provide over 120 I.T. summer internships for DC students since 2013. Enlightened will host seven technology interns this summer in support of both the Mayor?s Men and Boys of Color (MBOC) Initiative and On-Ramps to Careers, Inc. These internships are among over 150 that will be created by the MBOC and On-Ramps to Careers in 2015. "In order to create effective pathways to the middle class, we need to make sure that the next generations of Washingtonians have the tools they need to live, work, and thrive in the District of Columbia," said Mayor Bowser. "This program will help give young men the experience they need to succeed in the workplace."

New Science Techbook From Discovery Education Built To Next Generation Science Standards Now Available For K-12 Classrooms
Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms nationwide, today announced its new Discovery Education Science Techbook aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now available for classroom use. Designed specifically to help teachers transition to the NGSS framework, Discovery Education?s latest Techbook joins the company?s award-winning line of digital textbooks. The Science Techbook includes rich, standards-aligned content such as video, audio, text, interactives with hands-on activities, and virtual labs that help educators differentiate instruction and provide a rich and engaging learning experience for students. Embedded formative assessment opportunities help educators monitor student progress, and like all Discovery Education digital textbooks, the Science Techbook works on any device and can be implemented in a variety of instructional settings. Discovery Education?s new NGSS-aligned Science Techbook fully supports the instructional shifts required by the new standards, embraces the philosophy of three-dimensional learning, and is designed to help educators adapt their classroom practice to meet the standards. In addition to content chosen to directly support the standards, the NGSS Model Lessons within the new Techbook reflect the interconnectedness of the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) and Cross-Cutting Concepts (CCC) and illustrate what these mean in practice for educators.