February 2021
Monthly News
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IN THIS ISSUE
STEM Council Vision Sharpened in 2020
Iowa Leaders Star in STEM Essential Podcast: Vaccination, by STEM!
Sharing Impact at STEM Day at the Capitol
Excellence Across
STEM Regions: Mega-Convening of Regional Boards
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March 5, 2021 - 11:59 p.m.
STEM Scale-Up Program Application Submission Deadline
March 25, 2021 - 10:00 a.m.
Northwest Regional STEM Advisory Board Meeting
March 25, 2021 - 10:30 a.m.
South Central Regional STEM Advisory Board Meeting
March 25, 2021 - 11:00 a.m.
Southeast Regional STEM Advisory Board Meeting
March 26, 2021 - 12:00 p.m.
North Central Regional STEM Advisory Board Meeting
March 29, 2021 - 12:00 p.m.
Southwest Regional STEM Advisory Board Meeting
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STEM Council Vision
Sharpened in 2020
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The STEM Advisory Council met in January 2020 to define priorities for the years to come. |
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January 31, 2020, the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council set about defining a course for the years to come. Strategizing commenced with small group discussions as to top priorities on the horizon. Over thirty imperatives were brought forth to be voted on, the highest frequency few to be advanced to action planning. Five essentials rose to the top:
- Greater efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM Council programs and personnel;
- Greater focus on STEM career awareness and guidance for K-12 students;
- More emphasis on STEM teachers – equipping pre-service majors to be job ready and in-service teachers to adapt their STEM teaching;
- Identifying and replicating the best practices happening at the district level; and
- A special interest area of Council leaders to study STEM and STEAM, i.e., broadening the Council’s scope and constituency.
Over the course of nearly a year, working groups developed recommendations presented to the Council through online exchange in the fall and reviewed by Governor Reynolds at year’s end. Today, an array of activities are underway on those fronts. Council representation by, and reach to, underserved subpopulations is under the microscope. Chartered task teams will support school counselors in STEM career guidance and enhance Council programs in creativity and innovation. Online resources will be expanded. Best practices in school-business partnerships, computer science education, work-based learning and more will be captured and catalogued for dissemination. Teachers-in-training and current practitioners will be encouraged to take part in Council opportunities.
Due to the 2020 vision work of the STEM Council, 2021 and beyond present a clear view of where to go next. Thanks to all Council members and committee volunteers for sharpening the lens on the Council’s perspective.
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Iowa Leaders Star in STEM Essential Podcast: Vaccination, by STEM!
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The STEM Council launched the third series of its podcast, STEM Essential. The theme of this series, sponsored by Accumold, is “Vaccination, by STEM!” and features Iowans on the front lines behind developing, distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccines.
STEM Essential features leading advocates and voices to discuss the power of STEM education for our students now and what strong STEM education will mean for the future. STEM Council Executive Director Jeff Weld interviews guests about what inspired their path with STEM, how they view the current outlook for STEM and what they expect to see in the years ahead.
“Professionals in health care are today’s superheroes, all of whom are using their own STEM educations to protect and heal us through a global pandemic,” said Weld. “The only good thing about crisis is the wave of interest in learning about and preventing recurrence, and that is where our STEM Council comes in -- highlighting Iowans to emulate for the next generation of healers.”
Guests on this podcast series include:
- Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, Director of Public Health for the Black Hawk County Health Department
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Patricia Winokur, MD, Executive Dean, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine - Infectious Diseases
- Dr. Balaji Narasimhan, Director, Nanovaccine Institute at Iowa State University
- Ken Sharp, Division Director, Acute Disease Prevention, Emergency Response and Environmental Health at Iowa Department of Public Health
Weld’s first guest, Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, discussed the pandemic at the local level and the role that her agency plays in guiding the community. She said, “What excites me about public health is the fact that we are in every sector. This pandemic highlights it, we are working with the schools, superintendents, healthcare leaders, business community—and that’s the beauty of public health.”
For more information on STEM Council programs, events and resources, visit www.iowastem.org.
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Sharing Impact at STEM Day
at the Capitol
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STEM Council team members were in the Capitol Rotunda sharing STEM’s return on investment as part of STEM Day at the Capitol on February 17. |
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A scaled-back, health-secured STEM Day at the Capitol was held on February 17. While the Capitol Rotunda was not filled with exhibits showcasing STEM Council programs as in the past, STEM Council team members were available to safely share return-on-investment evidence of effects and highlights of the people and programs who make up Iowa’s edu-nomic development initiative, transforming education.
Despite the challenges faced during a pandemic year, the STEM Council managed to fulfill commitments to learners, educators and communities, as well as expand skillsets to the virtual, digital and online service platforms, much of which will continue to define the new normal.
Video footage was shared of STEM in action in classrooms and community centers throughout the state, including:
- School + business partnerships re-defining class time.
- Teachers in industry aligning what and how they teach to what awaits their students on-the-job.
- Hands-on and minds-on learning about computers, agriculture, medicine, energy and high-demand careers scaling to almost one-fifth of all the preK-12 students of Iowa.
The STEM Council mission is to increase interest and achievement in STEM studies and careers through partnerships engaging preK-12 students, parents, educators, employers, non-profits, policy leaders and others. The Council provides opportunities that inspire Iowa’s young people to become innovative, enterprising contributors to Iowa’s future workforce and the quality of life in our communities across the state. Through on-going bi-partisan support from the Iowa Legislature, the STEM Council continues to gain momentum and demonstrate impact across the state. That impact, the return on investment, is measured and reported annually by an independent evaluation consortium of Iowa State University’s Research Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Iowa’s Iowa Testing, and the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Social and Behavioral Research, lead organization.
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Excellence Across STEM Regions: Mega-Convening of Regional Boards |
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Regional STEM Advisory Board members, Regional STEM managers and the STEM Central Operations team met to brainstorm and collaborate on future priorities and opportunities within the six STEM regions. |
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More than 80 Iowans, made up of board members from each of the six STEM Regions and the STEM Network team, joined the Regional STEM Advisory Boards Virtual Mega Meeting earlier this month. The focus of the meeting was to share insights, exchange best practices and discuss future priorities and opportunities, thereby assuring a smooth landscape of excellence across the regions.
The meeting featured breakout sessions for collaboration and brainstorming on the following topics:
- STEM Communications
- STEM Scale-Up Program
- STEM BEST Program
- STEM Teacher Externships
- STEM Festivals
- STEM Equity
- STEM Program Data
Board members shared accomplishments, growth possibilities, challenges, strategies to get information to those who need it, needs in order to take action and other ideas. Many of these suggestions that arose in one region will be expanded to other regions as adoptions of best practices statewide going forward.
Led by the Regional STEM Managers, Regional STEM Advisory Boards fulfill a critical role in delivering inspiration and innovation across Iowa. Board members invest their time and talent in building connections, promoting opportunities, reviewing applications, staffing events, serving on working groups and more. Together, Regional STEM Managers, Regional STEM Advisory Boards and Regional STEM Hub Institutions collaborate to identify, grow and create STEM opportunities that strengthen each region.
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The STEM BEST Program application
opens March 8!
Learn more at
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To help us evaluate and improve our STEM Council newsletter, please CLICK HERE to complete a brief survey.
Thank you!
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Contact the Iowa STEM Operations Center by phone at (319) 273-2959
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