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Industry
Building Robots: Tech company holds courses in local schools (Hudson Reporter)
Some educators believe that unless more American students are encouraged to seek out those areas of knowledge, those jobs will be exported or employers will seek candidates from overseas to fill them. For this reason, Tara Consultancy Services (TCS) has teamed by with the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to provide a program that would encourage students to seek career paths in these areas. Students from Jersey City Middle School No. 7 got together for four days in mid-July to learn how to build robots. This was part of the GoIT Student Technology Program which provided the students with the tools and advice. Balaji Ganapathy, who heads World Force Effectiveness for North America, said the company�s initiative is about providing the skills for the next generation of workers who need to have the skills to meet the demands of the evolving technological landscape. 
Diversity in STEM
Sexism in Tech Runs Deep and Global (Mashable)
In the cool world of tech, gender discrimination is so uncool that it is rarely overt. But scratch the surface, and you will soon see shades of sexism in startup hubs the world over, from the Bay Area to Bangalore and Beijing. When it comes to women in tech, it seems like there are no borders � they face the same issues whether they are American, Chinese, or Indian. Let�s begin their story in India. Sukriti Vadula, president and co-founder of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Foundation (RAIF), chuckles when she recalls the day she walked into Simple Labs, a robotics company in Chennai, as an engineering student looking for part-time work. She wanted to learn all about embedded systems and automating her home. She knew the boss at Simple Labs and he knew her interest in the subject.
Teenage twin sisters teach robotics lessons (Philadelphia Inquirer)
The robot crossed the finish line, and the 9-year-old boy's face lit up. "It did it!" he said. "You want to keep programming?" his father, Dan, asked. "Yeah!" Matt said, grabbing the robot and rushing to a laptop that Hannah Tipperman had set up to control it. For two years, Tipperman and her twin sister, Rachael, have run a nonprofit, Robot Springboard, to teach robotics to kids. They've taught children in Alaska. They've worked with the Intel Corp. to bring their camp to San Jose, Costa Rica. And they won about $7,000 in grants to run a weeklong camp for middle-school girls at Drexel University. The Tippermans are just 17. The sisters, seniors at the all-girl Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, hope to do what they can to show kids, especially girls, what's possible.
Viewpoints
Editorial Board: Hype over Census Bureau STEM report is overblown (Washington Post)
THE UNITED States� shortage of scientific workers used to be undisputed. Graduates with scientific training are employed at a substantially higher rate than the national average. They�re also harder to find: [STEM] job openings take twice as long to fill as other ones. But these statistics have been called into question. A recent Census Bureau study found that only a quarter of bachelor�s degree graduates in STEM fields end up working in those fields. For computing, the number is almost one-half, but in �softer sciences,� such as psychology, the number is in the single digits. Eager critics seized this opportunity to lambast the Obama administration�s emphasis on STEM education. Not so fast.
Jonathan Wai (Researcher, Duke University Talent Identification Program): If you want to be rich and powerful, majoring in STEM is a good place to start (Quartz)
The standard narrative today is that [STEM] education is important because we need more data scientists, engineers, and STEM professionals. But promoting STEM education is critical for another reason: it teaches creative problem solving, which is widely applicable and more necessary than ever today. STEM education is linked to success not only in STEM fields, but in many other disciplines and even among many of the world�s most wealthy and powerful people. At the heart of mathematics is pattern recognition and the joy of numerical play. What psychologists might call fluid reasoning, or mental power, is what you use when you�re struggling with a problem and don�t know what to do.
Higher Education
STEAM Academy and UK offer summer labs and research experience for Lexington high school students (Lexington Herald-Leader)
Stephanie Bamfo, a sophomore at STEAM Academy this fall, isn't waiting until college to get a start on her intended career as a clinical pharmacist. Stephanie, 15, is spending the summer studying full-time in a lab at the University of Kentucky, where she hopes to work one day. She is among the students from Fayette County Public Schools' STEAM Academy who have participated this summer in labs and undergraduate research at UK, university spokeswoman Jenny Wells said. The STEAM Academy opened in Lexington last fall. It focuses on personalized instruction and opportunities to engage in resources at UK, Wells said. The school functions under a partnership between Fayette County Public Schools and UK.
Universities adapt to �no degree required� hiring (Tech Page One)
A 2014 study commissioned by some of the country�s largest companies, including Google and Citi, revealed some interesting trends in New York City�s tech sector. Some 44% of technology jobs do not require a bachelor�s degree. Also, employees in the technology sector are compensated well for their work. �The spectrum of tech-related occupations � from programmers to sales reps � is creating well-paying and quality jobs for New Yorkers at all levels of educational attainment,� said Kate Wittels, director of HR&A Advisors, the consulting firm that conducted the study. Google was one of the tech companies to change its hiring standards in recent years. The search engine giant took the emphasis off GPAs and test scores, instead focusing on candidates� creativity and skill sets.
Aero grad supports Engineering Education Complex, aerospace department (Texas A&M)
Brad Worsham �88 is supporting the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Department of Aerospace Engineering through two contributions to the Texas A&M Foundation. Worsham is contributing $250,000 to the Engineering Education Complex (EEC), a state-of-the-art learning facility dedicated solely to undergraduate engineering education. His decision is based on a desire to support the educational goals set forth by Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. �My contribution to the Engineering Education Complex is my commitment to the vision put forth by Dean Banks to further Texas A&M University�s position as a world-class engineering institution,� said Worsham.
Iowa
Governor, Lt. Governor Highlight STEM Progress (WHO-TV)
Gov. Terry Branstad, and Lieut. Gov. Kim Reynolds used their weekly news conference to focus on three years of the STEM initiative in Iowa. The governor said there are were over 3,000 classrooms, involving more than 100,000 students taking part in the initiative in the previous school year. �Every one of the STEM programs rolled out to educators across Iowa this past year has met or exceeded its objective of inspiring greater interest in STEM among students. That�s important because facts show that STEM careers pay, on average, $10 more per hour than non-STEM jobs, translating to average incomes of $58,800 versus $39,300 for all occupations,� Branstad said.
Florida
Florida's 12th university focuses on STEM (Florida Today)
The curiously oval-shaped structure at the new Florida Polytechnic University, designed by noted Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is a symbol of the state's latest higher-education experiment. It is the centerpiece of what will soon-be Florida's 12th state university and the only one dedicated almost exclusively to producing [STEM] degrees. Adorned with curved awnings and a roof that adjusts with the sun's angle, the 162,000-square foot, $60 million Innovation, Science and Technology building will house the school's laboratories, classrooms, auditoriums and other meeting rooms. It is the perfect symbol of a university built with the Silicon Valley-type industry in mind.
Virginia
Kecoughtan High gets Governor's STEM academy (Hampton Daily Press)
Kecoughtan High School has been approved by the Virginia Department of Education to launch an Architecture and Applied Arts Governor's [STEM] Academy. The academy will enroll more than 480 students in grades 9 through 12. About 100 students will be admitted for the first year this fall, according to Hampton City Schools. The academy will offer programs in design/pre-construction, engineering and technology, visual arts and merchandising. "The need for graphic designers will grow 13 percent, and modeling and simulation is growing in multiple career clusters such as health sciences, STEM, transportation, distribution and logistics," the school division said..
STEM Innovation
6 Nearly Living Architectural Designs That Fight Air Pollution (Mashable)
 Getting a breath of fresh air can be a rarity in a city, and construction usually doesn't help. However, there are some buildings � whether already built or only just proposed � that can change the way our environment and infrastructure interact, making the air cleaner in the process. From giant filters to pollution-fighting sidewalks, these buildings and structures are a breath of fresh air in places often overrun with harsh fumes. Here are six designs that are leading the way. There are plenty of ways of filtering air pollution, but how about destroying it all together? That's what these two buildings do with the help of a titanium dioxide coating that breaks down pollutants like nitrogen oxide. When the titanium dioxide is exposed to light, its electrons interact with water to release pollutant-busting free radicals.
STEM Food & Ag
National Engineers Week Foundation�s Annual Future City Competition (Informed Infrastructure)
.jpg) This year�s Future City Competition essay question is �Feeding Future Cities,� and students will be required to design an innovative way to provide food in metropolitan centers. Many thousands of years ago, humans learned to domesticate animals and grow plants for food. Because we no longer needed to hunt and gather, we could stay in one place and start to build cities. It was the beginning of civilization. Today, agriculture is the largest global enterprise on earth. And while some regions still farm in ways similar to our ancient ancestors, for most of the world the mechanization of planting and harvesting, chemical fertilization and pest control, advanced irrigation, and other modern farming tools and techniques led to increased crop output-which, in turn, became a major contributing factor to rapid population growth. The 2014-2015 Future City Competition is expected to attract over 35,000 students from various middle schools in regions located across the country. |
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 STEMconnector�
22 States Committed to Mentoring 140,000 Girls in STEM Skills
 This week, the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP), a founding partner of the Million Women Mentors (MWM) initiative, will announce over 100,000 new STEM mentor commitments from more than 20 states. 45,000 additional pledges will come in from the Lt. Governor for Iowa, several other MWM State leader networks and The National 4-H Council. The goal of the movement is to garner one million mentors in STEM professions over the next four years, to collectively increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women in these academic areas. �We salute the state-level leadership and know how hard they have worked to submit the mentoring pledges,� said Edie Fraser, CEO of STEMconnector� and Million Women Mentors. �Adding these new pledges to the 93,000 already made through our official site MillionWomenMentors.org takes us past the 200,000-mark � which is tremendous since our four year initiative only launched in January, 2014. We expect big corporate and government pledge announcements in the fall."
SHEC Member Profile: Dr. Scott T. Massey of the CumberlandCenter
 The STEM Higher Education Council (SHEC) is proud to announce, Dr. Scott T. Massey, Chairman and CEO of CumberlandCenter, will be a member of the Council. Cumberland center is a university- business alliance to transform innovation into prosperity through the growth of regional innovation hubs. The Center implements its mission through the Global Action Platform, a neutral collaborative platform to align resources and mobilize global corporations, universities, government agencies, NGOs, investors, and entrepreneurs focused on creating abundance in food, health, and prosperity. He is the immediate past President and CEO of The Meridian Institute (Indianapolis), a national think tank with programs in economics, education, and healthcare. His other prior roles include President and CEO, The Learning Collaborative, President and CEO, The Indiana Humanities Council, and Founding President and CEO of the Leonard Bernstein Center.
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Tuskegee University Joins Sierra Nevada Corporation�s Dream Chaser� Team
 Tuskegee University (TU) and Sierra Nevada Corporation�s (SNC) Space Systems announce they have signed a Letter of Cooperation to initiate collaborative efforts related to SNC�s Dream Chaser� Orbital Transportation System. The purpose of this relationship is to jointly promote aerospace engineering education, research, and development, scientific exploration and recruitment and training of a diverse workforce. Tuskegee University is now a university partner with SNC on the Dream Chaser program. SNC will support research projects for Tuskegee University faculty and students to advance the technical design of SNC�s Dream Chaser. These projects are expected to create internships and future job opportunities in STEM for Tuskegee University students. |
