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Reports
Are STEM fields more gender-balanced than non-STEM fields in Ph.D. production? (Inside Higher Ed)
Conventional wisdom says that while there are many barriers for women pursuing advanced degrees, the �pipeline� to the [STEM] is particularly leaky. But a new paper from the American Institutes for Research suggests that that overrepresentation of men Ph.D.s compared to women isn't a worse problem in STEM than in non-STEM fields, when preparation and interest are taken into account. �That�s kind of the headline finding to me, that in three-quarters of academic fields there�s a gender imbalance towards men,� said Andrew Gillen, a senior researcher in the institutes� education program and co-author of Exploring Gender Imbalance Among STEM Doctoral Degree Recipients. �You have a huge number of fields [beyond STEM] where you see a strong gender imbalance, and that�s definitely surprising, to me at least.� 
Diversity in STEM
Why This STEM Expert Foresees A Women In Tech Triumph (Forbes)
A women in tech triumph is starting to unfold, as women working in the industry are fast becoming inspired to push their skills to success � in part following the breakthrough appointment of Google research star Megan Smith as America�s chief technology officer. In spite of declining numbers of women pursuing technology degrees and then entering the workplace, and many workplaces somewhat lacking in diversity, women are increasingly pushing for success in the industry, keen to help shape the high impact of IT on business operations and customers. This is according to JJ DiGeronimo, author and founder of several high profile organizations, including Advancing Winning In STEM and Tech Savvy Women, that are geared towards helping women succeed in their careers.
Leading Women celebrates girls in STEM: Twitter Chat (CNN Leading Women)
Think women don't do science? Think again. This month on CNN.com International, we'll be celebrating the women and girls who rock STEM. The very special Leading Women event is part of our coverage of International Day of the Girl (October 11) and Ada Lovelace Day (October 14). To kick things off, we'll be holding a Twitter chat on October 9, at 5pm GMT -- and we want you to get involved. We'll be asking 'How can we get girls into STEM?' and featuring: Milka Duno (@MilkaDuno),Venezuelan racing car driving and qualified naval engineer. Regina Agyare (@ragyare), Ghanaian software developer and founder of Soronko Solutions. Rebecca Garcia (@geekgirlweb), co-founder of CoderDojo NYC, a non-profit that teaches youth to code.
Applications Now Open: NCWIT Award Recognizes Technical Accomplishments of High School Women (NCWIT)
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Award for Aspirations in Computing is now accepting applications � a competition open to any U.S. high school woman with computing aspirations. The multi-tiered award includes recognition at the national level (sponsored by Bank of America) and at the local level (sponsored by Microsoft), serving 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Aspirations Award recipients are chosen for their outstanding aptitude and interest in computing, proven leadership ability, academic performance, and plans for post-secondary education.
Higher Education
$3.9 Million Award Bolsters Cybersecurity Scholarship Program (UT-Dallas)
A cybersecurity scholarship program in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science has received an award of more than $3.9 million from the National Science Foundation. The CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program at UT Dallas can provide up to $46,000 per academic year to qualified undergraduate and graduate students pursuing computer science degrees related to cybersecurity. The program�s goal is to fulfill the U.S. government�s needs for employees trained in cybersecurity, said Dr. Kamil Sarac, associate professor of computer science who is principal investigator and director of the UT Dallas� Scholarship for Service program, which started in 2010.
Rose Hills Foundation awards UCI $700,000 to aid STEM undergraduates (UC-Irvine)
UC Irvine has been awarded $700,000 from The Rose Hills Foundation to support students in [STEM] pursuits. Each year for the next four years, The Rose Hills Foundation Undergraduate Science & Engineering Scholarships will assist 18 high-achieving undergraduates. The students will meet with one another at regular intervals throughout the year to discuss their goals and share their experiences. �This exciting new partnership with The Rose Hills Foundation will ensure that some of our best and brightest STEM students reach their full potential,� said Chancellor Howard Gillman. �We are very grateful for this support and look forward to working with The Rose Hills Foundat
Department Awards $75 Million in "First in the World" Grants to 24 Colleges and Universities (U.S. Department of Education)
To drive innovations in higher education that increase college completion, value and affordability, the Education Department today awarded $75 million to 24 colleges and universities under the new "First in the World" (FITW) grant program. Through FITW, the Obama Administration will support postsecondary institutions' efforts to develop and evaluate new approaches that can expand college access and improve student learning while reducing costs. In May, the Department announced this year's grant competition as part of President Obama's ambitious agenda to increase postsecondary access and completion.
K-12 Education
Mazda Motorsports team, EPA bring live STEM examples to Collins Hill (Gwinnett Daily Post)
About 700 students from Collins Hill High looked over the $200,000 Mazda SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel prototype race car on Tuesday as part of a STEM event to expose them to career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. The event was put on as a partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency and Mazda Motorsports, which has a Racing Accelerates Creative Education program that�s visited 13 high schools and exposed STEM career opportunities to about 11,000 students, said Kyle Kimball of Mazda Motorsports. The connection was made through a student�s parent who works for the EPA, while Mazda and EPA then worked with math department chair David Tullis and Principal Kerensa Wing to organize the event.
Coding
App Teaches Kindergartners Basic Computer Coding (AP)
This computer programming app is so easy to use that even a kindergartener can do it. Researchers in Massachusetts have created a basic computer coding app that they say is the first designed specifically for children as young as 5. Kids who haven't yet learned to read can use the app to craft their own interactive stories and games. With ScratchJr, children can snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters and other elements in their project move, jump, talk and change size. Users can modify various elements in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, and even insert their own photos.
Turning Programming Into Child�s Play (New York Times)
Dash is a small blue robot that can be programmed to play the xylophone, kick a ball, act like a dog and deliver messages � for instance, a prerecorded rendition of the �Happy Birthday� song. Its head, which spins around, has a single, Cyclops-like eye. Sometimes Dash emits a cheerful chime � a sign that it approves of its programmer�s actions. Saurabh Gupta, one of Dash�s creators, says these anthropomorphic qualities make the robot �more like a friend or a companion� than an object � and therefore more likely to appeal to its programmers, meant to be children as young as 5. Mr. Gupta is a co-founder and the chief technology officer of Wonder Workshop, one of a small but growing number of companies seeking to teach computer programming to children through robotics.
Codementor Gets You Programming Help When You Need It (Mashable)
The hardest part about programming is running into a problem that seems unsolvable, until 20 hours later, you've cracked the code, whether through scouring Stack Overflow questions or applying brute force in a non-stop, snack-powered session. That's what makes Codementor so promising. Codementor is an online marketplace for connecting instantly with an expert developer who can review your code real-time and talk you through the issue via voice or video chat. It's focused on helping developers get out of those last-minute ruts through one-on-one, on-demand sessions. Expert developers set their rates in 15-minute increments, and Codementor clients log in and find the right expert to help solve the problem.
Viewpoints
Balaji Ganapathy (Head of Workforce Effectiveness, TCS): A Nation at the Crossroads of Excellence (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
We live in a hyperconnected world, powered by digital technologies that have burst onto the scene over the past decade. The globalization of markets across developed and emerging economies has led to businesses competing not just at a local or regional level but at a national, and often international, level. Digital technologies are also helping organizations meet their consumers� demands for responsiveness, knowledge, engagement, and individualized attention. Living in this digital era requires its own set of skills to interact with and use these technologies. Developing solutions to real world problems in this digital era requires a new set of skills and a new way to use those skills.
Kentucky
Kentucky uses IdeaFestival to push students toward Hour of Code movement (TechRepublic)
An hour doesn't seem like much time to learn how to do something consequential. But, what if that's all the time you needed to learn how to code? That's the idea behind the Hour of Code movement from Code.org, a non-profit organization focused on encouraging participation in computer science. Events can be hosted in anywhere and at anytime, but the bigger goal is for millions to try Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week, December 8-14, 2014. Kentucky Coders is setting out to contribute a million coding events before then, starting at the 2014 IdeaFestival, an international event held in the state's largest city of Louisville
STEM Food & Ag
At MIT, A Farm Grows That Is Built For A City (Fast Co.Exist)
.jpg) For at least a decade, designers have dreamed of creating urban farming utopias. The vision is compelling: Why not try to a feed our expanding cities and save resources by growing food vertically--in or on buildings--right near the people who eat it? But making that idea a reality is much harder than it�s seemed, especially when it comes to getting the economic part of the equation to make sense. By precisely optimizing every input and output and creating customized designs, MIT�s CityFarm is an attempt to create a soil-free urban farming system that gets it right. Caleb Harper, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, hopes that the open-source CityFarms project can one day be replicated all over the world. The project is a finalist for Fast Company's 2014 Innovation By Design awards, which will be announced on October 15th. |
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Stay Connected
      
 STEMconnector�
Join the #disrupttheclassroom EdTech Twitter Chat Tomorrow (Oct 2nd) at 11:00AM ET!
 We're very excited to host a Twitter chat with the Mobile Learning Partnerships (MLP) Initiative from Innovate+Educate and the Verizon Foundation (@verizongiving)! Please join us from 11:00 AM ET to 12:00 PM ET on Thursday, October 2, 2014 to talk about the role of technology and mobile learning both in the classroom, and how it relates to STEM. While @STEMconnector will be chatting with @MLPExp, we want you to join in the action! Use the #disrupttheclassroom hashtag to let us hear your opinions and to ask questions.
100 Diverse Corporate Leaders in STEM - Surya Kant of Tata Consultancy Services
 In a career spanning more than 30 years, Surya (�Sury") Kant has made a significant contribution to the growth of the global software industry and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the largest IT services, consulting and business solutions organizations in the world. In his current role as President for North America, UK and Europe (regions that account for more than 75% of the company�s global revenues), Sury is responsible for overseeing and strengthening customer relationships and revenues across TCS� largest markets, and plays a key role in expanding the company�s range of technology and service offerings. "At TCS, we believe that a diverse work environment generates the most innovative solutions and that mentorship is a necessary tool to support minorities as they pursue their career aspirations. For example, through our partnership with STEMconnector, TCS is working closely with Million Women Mentors to mobilize one million women and men to serve as STEM mentors by 2018."
The EdTech Weekly Report: September 30, 2014
 This week in an all-new EdTech Weekly Report: MasteryConnect has raised $15.2 million to further market its software so teachers can teach to students and not to tests, Tiggly- an iPad learning toy for babies & toddlers- raises Series A funding, Pearson partners with NBC Learn to provide educational videos in online platform, Udacity raises $35 million more, and much much more!
Alcoa Foundation and Discovery Education Host Virtual Field Trip for Classrooms Nationwide
 Alcoa Foundation, one of the largest corporate foundations in the U.S., and Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, will celebrate National Manufacturing Day on October 3, 2014, with an interactive virtual field trip. The Manufacture Your Future LIVE Virtual Field Trip will be hosted from an Alcoa facility as part of Alcoa Foundation and Discovery Education�s overall �Manufacture Your Future� program, which provides middle and high school students with an inside look at careers in advanced manufacturing.
The STEM 2.0 Initiative in Action Update & Video
.jpeg) Since launching the STEM 2.0 initiative, STEMconnector� and its associated leadership councils have taken several steps in moving forward with the action-orientated agenda outlined in STEM 2.0�An Imperative For Our Future Workforce. The work has been focused primarily on the foundational STEM 2.0 capability platforms of Employability Skills 2.0, Innovation Excellence, and Digital Fluency. The following provides an update on each platform (and some important dates for 2014-2015. As part of executing and accelerating the STEM 2.0 agenda, STEMconnector�s Innovation Task Force hosted a roundtable.. |
