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Industry
Chevron to partner in $20 million regional STEM initiative (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Chevron Corp. today said $20 million will be poured into a new initiative to improve education and technical training for the region�s workforce. The Appalachia Partnership Initiative will focus on boosting skills in [STEM] to better prepare students for jobs in the energy and manufacturing sectors. Chevron is a founding partner in the initiative along with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Rand Corp. and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. The initiative will include hands-on STEM projects in K-12 schools, teacher training, scholarships for community college students, and a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University�s Entertainment Technology Center. The initiative will target a 27-county region including southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. 
Higher Education
New Duke scholarship benefits NC Science and Math graduates (News & Observer)
A new scholarship program at Duke University will benefit graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the university announced Monday. The scholarship fund was created with a $1 million gift from Sean Fahey, a graduate of both schools and co-founder of Claren Road Asset Management, an $8.5 billion credit hedge fund manager. One student in each Duke class will benefit from the program, which will provide full and partial scholarships to NCSSM graduates who demonstrate academic achievement and financial need. It�s the largest gift of its kind to a North Carolina university to support graduates of NCSSM.
Longhorn Maker Studio officially opens in Cockrell School of Engineering (The Daily Texan)
The Longhorn Maker Studio had its official grand opening Monday afternoon, welcoming all students and faculty in the Cockrell School of Engineering. According to mechanical engineering professor Desiderio Kovar, the studio has unofficially been open since Sept. 2 and has since been a place where students can come in and work on school projects or create prototypes for personal inventions. �This is really a pilot,� Kovar said. �We are going to try out a whole lot of ideas here. Our plan is ultimately to move this [studio] to the new [Engineering Education and Research Center] building and hopefully will be the center piece of the building. We�re trying out new ideas and seeing what works.�
�Collaborations� key to UB�s STEM education success (Univ. of Buffalo)
Educators in the Niagara Falls City School District knew they could build the perfect state-of-the-art lab space with flashy, high-tech devices and a STEM curriculum resembling traditional teaching methods. But the administrators and teachers in these new STEM classrooms wanted more. They wanted an environment to teach [STEM] classes that reflected what students would find in the outside world. This is where the University at Buffalo�s Graduate School of Education came in: Taking advantage of a few key pre-existing relationships, Niagara Falls teachers and administrators joined intellectual forces with UB experts � in this case Randy Yerrick, professor and associate dean for interprofessional education and engagement in the Department of Learning and Instruction.
CSU hosts national STEM study (Collegian)
Colorado State University is participating in a $4.3 million national [STEM] study starting Monday and going through Oct. 31 to better understand why students are leaving science majors. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and students are encouraged to participate. Those who are interviewed will be compensated $20 for their time. This is a follow up to a study done nearly 20 years ago resulting in the book �Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences� by Elaine Seymour and Nancy M. Hewitt.
Diversity in STEM
Ruthe Farmer: NCWIT strategist. Computer science advocate. Tech Dumbledore. (TechRepublic)
Ruthe Farmer is the chief strategy officer for the National Center for Women in Information Technology. She talked about bringing computer science to Girl Scouts and NCWIT's impact on the women in tech movement. The moment Ruthe Farmer picked up the phone, I knew she was a force of nature. Before I could even ask about her career history, she was telling me about her plans for the future. Each time I asked a question about her life, she brought it back to her larger mission -- getting girls to choose careers in technology and engineering, and making sure the system makes it easier for them to do so.
UD's Targett, Wu to present at Inspiring Women in STEM conference (UDelaware)
Two prominent women leaders from the University of Delaware will serve as invited panelists at the 2014 Inspiring Women in STEM Conference, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware. Designed to develop and advance women in [STEM] careers, the conference features presentations, workshops, panel discussions and audience exercises on a variety of issues facing women in the workplace. Nancy Targett, dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, will discuss the importance of developing strong communications skills in a plenary session titled �Communicating to be Heard: Mind the Message.�
Empowerment Through Play: Getting Girls Into STEM (Business2Community)
In today�s STEM-driven economy, the need to talent ratio in the STEM fields is less than favorable. The scarcity and availability of qualified talent in STEM is creating a huge talent gap- and therefore, a problem for companies looking to innovate at the velocity required to stay competitive. Taking the STEM field analysis a step further, the STEM field also lacks diversity. It is a hugely male-dominated field, which limits the talent pool even further. And based on the latest stats, the outlook for filling that gap doesn�t look too promising; it may even get worse before it gets better.
K-12 Education
Toyota Foundation makes grant to JPS STEM program (Mississippi News Now)
Jackson Public Schools and the City of Jackson released a statement announcing a grant award to improve and support the [STEM] programs in the elementary division. The grant has been awarded through the Toyota USA Foundation and the Mississippi Center for Education Innovation. JPS Superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray and Mayor Tony Yarber will address the public and media at Brown Elementary, located at 146 Ash Street, at 10:00 am on Tuesday. Jackson Public Schools is the recipient of more than $400,000 in direct assistance over the next three years.
Grants fund teachers' STEM projects (Pensacola News Journal)
Students at Brown Barge Middle School will study the flight paths of rockets. Fourth-graders at Scenic Heights Elementary will create their own comic books. Eighth-graders at Ransom Middle School will produce a morning news show on iPads. Those projects and 43 others were the recipients of this year's round of Grants for Excellence presented by the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation to county teachers Monday night. The grants, totaling just more than $64,000, were handed out in increments of up to $2,000 to Escambia teachers who applied with specific project ideas for their students.
Maker Movement
Raspberry Pi Founder Shows Off Incoming Touch Panel For Making DIY �Pi Pads� (TechCrunch)
Eben Upton, the founder of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, has shown off a new piece of hardware that�s likely to expand the ecosystem around its single board computer � namely a touchscreen display. So, in other words, get ready for DIY �Pi Pads�. �The whole time we�ve been doing Raspberry Pi we�ve been saying yeah the display accessory is coming, yeah the display accessory is coming � and the display accessory is finally coming,� said Upton. �This is our first display panel that we�re going to be hopefully getting out of the door before the end of the year or early next,� he added.
Chicago
Why Chicago is mandating coding education (CNNMoney)
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel believes the language of the future is code writing -- and he wants every kid in Chicago to be prepared. In a room full of techies at the Internet of Things World Forum last week, he didn't talk about Chicago's chief data officer or the city's smart parking and LED street lights. Instead, he emphasized the Windy City's commitment to computer science and coding education. "In three years time, you can't graduate from high school in the city of Chicago if you didn't take code writing and computer science," said Mayor Emanuel in conversation with Cisco CEO John Chambers. "We're making it mandatory."
Hawaii
Native Hawaiian STEM and childcare opportunities at Windward get $9.9 million federal boost (University of Hawaii System)
Windward Community College will soon be home to a Hawaiian immersion childcare center and renovated STEM learning environment supporting student success for Native Hawaiians thanks to a U.S. Department of Education Title III Grant Project award totaling $9,901,624 over the next five years. �We are so fortunate to have received this funding as Windward CC students desperately need a childcare center, and with more STEM degree and certificate programs being offered, advanced learning experiences are essential,� said Chancellor Doug Dykstra. The project grant, �Hānai a ulu: Feed and Grow�Nurturing student parents and STEM at Windward Community College,� will enhance student success through two major projects.
STEM Food & Ag
A Taste of Home: Agriculture Programs Help Refugees Adjust (Mashable)
.jpg) Bitter melon was for sale at the Ohio City Farm in Cleveland for the first time this year. There was a woman from Burma, a trainee at the The Refugee Response's Refugee Empowerment Agricultural Program, on hand to give shoppers suggestions for preparing the pungent cousin of squash and cucumbers. (Chopped and sauteed with onion, she advised.) There are now agricultural programs across the country � many of which have been bolstered by federal Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program grants � aimed at transitioning people into their new lives in the United States by focusing on the agrarian background shared by many refugees. REAP has been growing crops for the last four years at the six-acre Ohio City Farm. The program helps refugees during their resettlement, using arable land as a kind of classroom to train, educate and potentially employ new residents.
How A 20-Something Persuaded Thousands Of Kenyan Farmers To Save Their Land By Growing Trees (Fast Co.Exist)
Tevis Howard became interested in trees while traveling during a gap year in Kenya. His host family grew several crops, but loved the saplings above all. They didn't need the attention of other plants, and they just grew and grew until they were harvested. After graduating from Brown University, Howard went back to Kenya to set up Komaza, a forestry business with a social and environmental purpose. He now works with more than 5,500 farmers and has planted more than 1.5 million trees. While Kenya has some of the most fertile land in the world, most of the country is composed of "drylands" where things don't grow easily. "We're trying to build the same intensity [of any forestry] value chain, but instead of one large plantation, we work with small, poor farmers, so we all can derive as much economic benefit as possible," he explains.
STEM Innovation
This Skyscraper Is Designed To Suck Up Dirty Air (Fast Co.Exist)
 Beijing is notorious for its record-breaking air pollution, but 12 other cities in China have even dirtier air. Dozens more fail to meet minimum standards for air that's safe to breathe. While the Chinese government has committed billions to cleaning up pollution, those changes are happening slowly, especially in cities with little political clout. In the meantime, here's another approach: Modular skyscrapers that suck up dirty air. The Clean Air Tower, from China-based architect Alexander Balchin, is a conceptual design envisioned for the city of Binhai. "It's one of China's many 'overnight cities' where an entire city of skyscrapers is built simultaneously, all in a matter of years," Balchin explains. |
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 STEMconnector�
Join our 100 Diverse Corporate Leaders in STEM TownHall Tomorrow at 2PM ET!
 STEMconnector� will host an online TownHall tomorrow from 2:00-3:00PM ET, featuring keynote presentations from honorees in the 100 Diverse Corporate Leaders in STEM publication. Speakers include Kimberly Foster Price, VP at 3Mgives; Ray Dempsey, VP at BP America; Theresa Hennesy, VP at Comcast Cable; Larry Quinlan, Global CIO at Deloitte; Dexter Cole, VP of Programming at the Science Channel; Seema Kumar, VP at Johnson & Johnson; Barbara G. Koster, Senior VP & CIO at Prudential Financial; Sanjay Verma, Divisional VP of Global Services at PTC; Dawne Hickton, CEO at RTI International Metals; Michael Norris, CEO at Sodexo; Sajan Pillai, CEO at UST Global; and Miguel Quiroga, Executive Director of Customer Experience at Verizon.
100 Diverse Corporate Leaders in STEM - Lorinda Burgess of Medtronic
 Lorinda Burgess is Vice President of Finance and Customer Care for Medtronic�s US Region. "At Medtronic we encourage students to continue their study of STEM subjects through mentoring programs and internships. We provide INROADS students with paid internships. The INROADS organization places talented underserved youth in business and industry. Medtronic has two programs for highly talented MBA students: the MBA Associate Program and the Leadership Development Rotation Program. Our Summer Associate Program offers technical internships to top undergraduate and graduate engineering students."
2014 CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition Draws More Than 2,100 Teams, Breaks All Time Registration Record
 The Air Force Association announced today that CyberPatriot, the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, closed out their registration period with more than 2,150 teams hailing from all 50 states, Canada and DoD Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific. CyberPatriot is beginning its seventh competition season with a 40% increase in total registrations from last year, reaching thousands of students in the United States and beyond. Last year's team registrations totaled 1,566 with 69 of those teams competing in the middle school division. This competition season marks the fourth consecutive year for reaching participants in all 50 states.
The EdTech Weekly Report: October 20, 2014
 This week in an all-new EdTech Weekly Report: EdSurge explores how free MOOCs like Coursera make money, Maine Charter School Commission moves forward on a virtual charter school, edtech startup Levebee launches at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe to be your child's personal reading coach, Google Glass Apps offer opportunities for wearable educational technology, and much more!
100 Diverse Corporate Leaders in STEM - Ken Bouyer of EY
 Ken Bouyer is responsible for developing and implementing the EY's recruiting strategy to build and attract diverse and inclusive talent pools for member firms in the Americas. "We can encourage minority and women students to continue in STEM-related fields through awareness, role models and experience. We do this first for young children, by making STEM learning fun and enjoyable through the support of Cyberchase on PBS Kids. Cyberchase, the Emmy� award-winning PBS television series, helps build the math and problem-solving skills of children ages 8-11 and was specifically designed to engage girls and minorities." |
