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Higher Education
Engineers Sprint Ahead, but Don't Underestimate the Poets (New York Times)
 For students chasing lasting wealth, the best choice of a college major is less obvious than you might think. The conventional wisdom is that computer science and engineering majors have better employment prospects and higher earnings than their peers who choose liberal arts. This is true for the first job, but the long-term story is more complicated. The advantage STEM majors fades steadily after their first jobs, and by age 40 the earnings of people who majored in fields like social science or history have caught up.
University of Toledo gets nearly $1 million for engineering program (Toledo Blade)
NSF has awarded the University of Toledo $999,984 to fund a new program that will support low-income students pursing engineering degrees. GEARSET - Greater Equity, Access, and Readiness for Success in Engineering and Technology - is for first-year students who did not meet the College of Engineering's requirements and were admitted into the Department of Exploratory Studies. The five-year grant will provide scholarships for low-income students, averaging $6,400 a year for up to seven semesters. 
Diversity in STEM
Dozens of Tech Employers Build New Talent Pipeline through Virtual Career Fair (CodePath)
Computer science nonprofit CodePath.org will today hold its second annual Virtual Career Fair, connecting more than 200 undergraduate engineering students, hailing from a diverse range of backgrounds and higher education institutions, with hiring managers from 15 major technology employers. The career fair offers an inclusive process for employers to interview and recruit potential hires from colleges and universities whose students are historically underrepresented in elite tech industry jobs. While the tech industry is facing a 500,000 worker talent shortage, just 7.4% of industry employees are African-American, 8% are Latinx, and 16% are women.
IUPUI Scores Grant to Address Inequities in STEM (Inside Indiana Business)
IUPUI has launched an initiative to improve upon and address challenges women face in the tenured ranks of STEM departments. The effort is supported by a NSF ADVANCE grant. The funding also supports a dive into analyzing inequality in the representation, retention and advancement of women, particularly women of color, in the STEM field. The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to combat barriers based on gender that serve to hold back diverse faculty in academic institutions.
Oregon State Touts Increase in Female Engineering Faculty (KLCC)
Oregon State University says the number of women on the faculty of its engineering school has rapidly increased and is now among the highest in the nation. Fifty of OSU's 200 tenured or tenure-track faculty in the College of Engineering are women. According to the university, that number has more than doubled over the past five years and it puts the school in the top three large research universities in the country when it comes to percentage of women on the engineering faculty.
K-12 Education
Discovery Education's Math Techbook Wins 2019 Tech Edvocate Award (AC&E)
The Discovery Education Math Techbook, an immersive digital curriculum supporting math instruction across North America, was recently named a winner of the 2019 Tech Edvocate Award in the "Best Math App or Tool Category.” In addition,Discovery Education STEM Connect was named a finalist in the "Best STEM/STEAM Education App or Tool" category and Discovery Education earned finalist status in the “Best Global EdTech Company” category. Discovery Education is the leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms worldwide.
New STEM lab at R.A. Long expands opportunities, students say (TDN)
 If the carpenters trained in the old R.A. Long wood shop returned there today, they might think they'd been caught in a time warp. Gone are the band saws, vice benches and sawdust. In their places are drones, robots and a futuristic table that allows students to do “virtual dissections” in a way few high schools can facilitate. After a summer of renovation, the old wood shop space at R.A. Long High School is now a cutting-edge STEM lab, with professional-grade equipment and versatile space for students to work in.
Arkansas Brings VR to Concussion Education (T.H.E. Journal)
Arkansas is rolling out an interactive experience to give middle school and high school students the resources to recognize the signs and symptoms of concussions using virtual reality headsets. Arkansas is the first state to offer the VR component of CrashCourse, an interactive platform focused on concussion treatment and prevention, to schools statewide. The platform was developed by TeachAids, a health education nonprofit.
Pennsylvania
Pa. has no standards for teaching climate change in the classroom - so it might not be taught at all (NPR)
A random act of teaching. That's how Jeff Remington describes the state of climate change education in Pennsylvania today. "There is no consistency of how it would be taught," he said. "I don't think there's any formal training on how to teach it or why to teach it.” Remington is a science teacher at Palmyra Middle School, outside Harrisburg. He's also one of 10 national STEM ambassadors for a program funded by NSF. He's been teaching science, but not climate change, for 33 years. |
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Stay Connected       
TCS goIT Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary with New Micro Bit, GIS Technology Pathways and Digital Innovation Lab
 TCS announced the expansion of its flagship STEM and Computer Science (CS) education program, goIT, with the addition of new technology pathways in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Micro Bit, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and a first-of-its-kind Digital Innovation Lab. Through goIT, students learn design thinking, digital technologies and the agile methodology to develop and prototype solutions that improve their own communities or support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. With a proven curriculum since its inception in 2009 at TCS Seven Hills Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, goIT has empowered more than 25,000 students in 77 North American cities.
Next What's Working Webinar on 9/25 to feature Micron, Black & Veatch and Arlington Independent School District
 Through sharing the initiatives, collaborations, and general best practices happening across our network through the What's Working Booklet and the What's Working Webinar series, we hope to learn from each other and continue to grow and scale our progress. The next Webinar is happening on Wednesday, September 25 from 12 - 1pm EST. In this webinar you will hear from three of our members Micron, Black & Veatch and Arlington Independent School District about their successful programs and initiatives in STEM talent development.
Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference Coming to the Midwest
 The Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference is coming to Madison, Wisconsin, this November. "Our Changing Global Environment, Scientists and Engineers Designing Solutions for the Future" will be held November 14-17, 2019. |
