3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Emcee
Jack Ford, Co-Founder, AmericanEDtv; CBS News Legal Analyst
KEYNOTE CONVERSATION
Margaret Spellings, President and CEO, Margaret Spellings & Company; Senior Advisor, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; U.S. Secretary of Education, 2005-2009
Brian Kelly, Editor and Chief Content Officer, U.S. News & World Report
KEYNOTE PANEL: The Power of STEM
Nancy Dussault Smith, Vice President of Marketing Communications, iRobot
Trooper Stephen Sicard, Massachusetts State Police
Dr. Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and Professor, Department of Systems Biology; Co-Director, Institute of Personalized Cancer Therapy, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Bree Sandlin, Cancer Survivor
Moderator:
Jack Ford, Co-Founder, AmericanEDtv; CBS News Legal Analyst
8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
KEYNOTE REMARKS
Best STEM High Schools Presentation
Mayim Bialik, Ph.D., STEM Advocate; Actress, “The Big Bang Theory”
KEYNOTE PANEL: STEM Needs in Manufacturing
Eric D. Fingerhut, Vice President, Education & STEM Learning, Battelle Memorial Institute
Eric Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens
Moderator:
Gina Burkhardt, Executive Vice President, American Institutes for Research
At numerous colleges and universities, schools of education are scrambling to develop more effective methods of training new teachers and to draw more prospective teachers into STEM fields, an effort that takes on new urgency as the Common Core State Standards are implemented. The UTeach program developed at the University of Texas-Austin is in 34 universities so far and is proving very successful at attracting teacher candidates and providing both deep content knowledge and intensive field experience. And in a new report, the American Federation of Teachers suggests creating something akin to a comprehensive legal bar exam for aspiring teachers to assess their competency in educational knowledge and classroom performance. This session will explore what changes are needed in STEM teacher ed at the undergraduate and graduate levels and identify models of math and science instruction that hold promise.
Major educational publishers have been aggressively ramping up efforts to develop products that will further help teachers customize lessons, while also capturing and analyzing data on student performance. The new products will be interactive and involve gaming and “immersive” experiences. This panel will feature representatives from these companies, who will explain their visions of the next generation of learning technologies and how they will impact the educational process.
For a growing number of U.S. companies, finding skilled workers for unfilled jobs is becoming a critical priority. The dearth of talent affects a surprisingly wide array of industries, from high-tech and manufacturing to energy, healthcare, and retail. It is becoming increasingly clear that at least partial responsibility for addressing this issue will fall to the chief talent officers at major American firms. The many concurrent dialogues among business and academia are leading to partnerships and innovations that show great promise. But many agree that progress on this front isn’t happening fast enough. Top officials from several major companies will define and discuss programs to create and ensure a STEM-capable workforce, including new research from an executive roundtable convened in February by U.S. News & World Report, STEMconnector, and the University of Phoenix.
Some experts say getting children interested in STEM should start very early, even as young as pre-kindergarten, in order to help keep students interested and engaged in STEM throughout their lives. Such STEM engagement efforts take many forms and incorporate a variety of out-of-classroom resources. What are some of the best practices for early-age STEM programs and what regional models are scalable across the country? This session will identify aspects of early education programs that are proving successful and offer strategies for educators to use to foster and sustain more children’s interest in STEM.
Science education at the K-12 level is in need of a revamp, as many current curricula are based on standards that are more than a decade old and American students lag their global peers in performance. Based on frameworks from the National Research Council, several groups have partnered to develop a cutting-edge set of benchmarks for student achievement in science, the Next Generation Science Standards, which have drawn support from 26 states. In this workshop session, authors and other leaders in their development will provide a status report on the recently released standards, including the next steps for implementation, and answer your specific queries on the upcoming changes.
Though women represent half the workforce, they still fill less than a quarter of the jobs in traditional STEM fields. Experts have many theories on the actions that need to be taken to help girls develop an interest in and build their confidence in the STEM disciplines, which have been traditionally male. From revising workplace structures and providing more role models to encouraging parents and society as a whole to relinquish deep-seated and unconscious biases about girls and science and math, panelists will discuss how schools, communities, businesses, and families are inspiring and supporting girls interested in pursuing STEM subjects.
Three minutes to tell me who you are, what you do, and why someone should care--sometimes that’s all you get. Being able to tell your organization’s story and deliver your message in a concise and compelling way is the name of the game. This session challenges a group of pre-selected attendees to take the stage and give GMMB communications experts—and the audience—their company or organization’s best 3-minute “elevator” pitch. Following the presentations, participants and the audience will discuss key elements of getting your message across effectively.
Student engagement plays a pivotal role in meeting the goals of STEM workforce development and literacy. It is one of four federal policy priorities in America Competes reauthorization. Intentionally and strategically inspiring student engagement in STEM is critical for filling the talent pipeline. There are growing but often uncoordinated collections of resources from business, education and community-based organizations that seek to engage students in meaningful STEM experiences. State STEM networks are connecting the dots and spreading both promising and proven practices through STEMx. Expert leaders will demonstrate strategies for coordinating STEM resources into an engine of engagement and introduce STEMx tools for spreading innovation and fueling the talent pipeline.
It’s no secret that the first two years of college are the most crucial for STEM degree attainment. Numerous colleges and universities and several major organizations have introduced initiatives to identify what works best in undergraduate STEM teaching, particularly during the first two years of college. Instructional techniques that show promise include discovery-based interactive and team learning rather than lectures and more of a focus on problem solving. The learning-assistant model of instruction, in which upperclassmen guide younger students; experiential learning; and a commitment to undergraduate research are other methods being introduced or widely used. In addition, because math is such a foundational STEM ability, and one that is lacking in so many high school graduates, it’s especially key to get the teaching of it right. This session will explore what strategies successfully turn two years of a STEM major into four–or more.
Millions of people around the world are now able to get free online access to courses produced by some of the top universities in the United States and elsewhere. In addition, some schools are refining the online model to enable students to have access to a wider range of for-credit courses taught by professors at leading universities. Boosters suggest these courses could reduce the cost of higher education as fewer teachers are needed, increase access to the best university minds, help stimulate technological advances, and build communities of learners. But will they fulfill their promise? This panel, which will consist of several key creators and providers of such massive open online courses (MOOCs), will discuss the rapidly developing trend while addressing crucial questions about how MOOCs might help fill the STEM pipeline.
In today’s business climate, it’s increasingly a worker’s skill set, rather than his or her degree, that counts. The education community has responded by ramping up skills training and retraining programs for learners of all ages, often working in partnerships with regional and national employers. The Manufacturing Institute, for instance, has launched a national skills certification program aimed at helping workers acquire and demonstrate particular talents in certain industries. And in the vein of video game rewards and Scout badges, a number of educators, companies, and organizations are developing digital student “badges” that show skills learned or specific objectives met. This panel will explore how skills certification programs and online badges can help shore up the STEM pipeline.
In today’s technology-driven world, employees must be up-to-date on the latest advances within their industries. A prime example is healthcare: Think robotic surgery, telemedicine, advanced diagnostics, to name a few. Partnerships between hospitals and community colleges and four-year institutions, as well as community organizations, are springing up to feed the hunger for skilled healthcare employees. In addition, a number of community college and CTE programs have been created to re-educate older workers aiming to extend their skills and come back from a downsizing or to postpone retirement. Discover some current best practices in continuing education and how employers are using these programs to plug needed workers into critical slots.
Between 2012 and 2015, the College Board is redesigning AP tests in biology, chemistry, and physics (among other subjects) with the hope of allowing for more in-depth classroom instruction and student critical and analytical thinking. The College Board offers a range of information, workshops, and resources for teachers and students about the changes to the tests and how they might impact classroom instruction. In this workshop, select course authors, teachers, and College Board professionals will provide an overview of the revisions to the AP curricula.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards for mathematics, a set of uniform benchmarks for achievement that aim to produce more college- and career-ready students. The standards are in the early stages of implementation in several states. Kentucky, the first state to implement Common Core and test on it, has seen proficiency scores drop but college- and career-readiness levels rise. North Carolina has also introduced tests keyed toward Common Core, while several other states boast numerous education resources, curricular framework, and other Common Core tools that might prove beneficial to their counterparts across the nation. In this workshop, educators and state officials from Kentucky, North Carolina, and other states will answer questions, share success stories and trouble spots related to Common Core, and propose strategies that other jurisdictions might use to apply the new standards to their curricula.
Building support for STEM education and recruiting requires storytelling, vision, and a memorable brand. STEM has a confused image at best. Watch three top communications firms pitch new branding and creative branding concepts for a STEM ad campaign in real time. This public “pitch-off” will be presented before a panel of judges, with audience input. Join us for ideas and a crash course in how communicators get to the heart of the issue in order to cut through the clutter.
Many schools, districts and states are interested in STEM but have difficulty getting initiatives off the ground. After determining that STEM is a good idea, the task then becomes moving from concept to implementation. Who are the “right” stakeholders? How do the business and education communities communicate and arrive at shared vision? In this workshop session, state STEM network leaders will discuss methods that have successfully moved initiatives forward at the local, regional and state level, using tools developed by practitioners in the field. Experience the STEMx open innovation model for exchange that builds on “how we did it” across multiple STEMx states.
2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
THE GREAT DEBATE: Are We Moving Too Slowly?
Maria Klawe, Ph.D., President, Harvey Mudd College
Arthur Levine, Ph.D., President, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Camsie A. McAdams, Senior Advisor on STEM Education, U.S. Department of Education
Leland Melvin, Associate Administrator for Education, NASA
Nina Rees, President and CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Stefanie Sanford, Ph.D., Chief of Global Policy and Advocacy, The College Board
Moderator:
Brian Kelly, Editor and Chief Content Officer, U.S. News & World Report
The glaring gender gap in STEM disciplines has been tackled with great success at a number of colleges and universities that have made key changes. This session will look at the research on what creates the gap and what reverses it: actively recruiting women, transforming the traditional macho “only the strong will survive” culture of science and engineering departments into one of developing and supporting talent, introducing the notion of using technical skills for humanitarian problem solving early in the curriculum, and intensively training prospective women engineers in spatial skills. This panel will explore the current landscape for women in STEM in the halls of higher academia, how it’s changing, and what policies and programs are proving to be most effective.
By mixing face-to-face teaching with computer-mediated instruction, teachers at the K-12 and college levels are creating more flexible learning environments, where students can progress through their lessons at their own pace and get personalized help if needed. Computer software can provide self-guided lessons and flag problems for instructors who can then work with particular individuals or groups who need additional help. Different models of blended learning are being applied across the country. This panel, which will consist of practitioners, will examine the pros and cons of the various techniques.
Across the country, industry and state, regional, and local governments are engaged in various partnerships to address the STEM skills and workforce gap. In addition to spearheading efforts to improving K-12 education standards, a number of states have introduced specialized job training programs in order to court corporations to their vicinities. At the federal level, many companies are calling on Congress to expand visas for foreign graduates of U.S. universities who hold STEM degrees to increase the nation’s talent pool. This session will explore programs at all levels of government and identify the most effective qualities of each for those looking to build scalable versions in their own jurisdictions.
The traditional two-track model of college-prep and vocational education is being replaced by an array of ways to make all high school students more college- and career-ready. They range from seamless integration of the core curriculum with a grounding in career studies to career-themed learning communities or “academies” within schools to entire high schools dedicated to a career field. And increasingly, students are participating in off-site internships and apprenticeships during the school day. This panel will explore some of the new initiatives to create high school career pathways of studies in strategic industries in various cities and states.
Educational opportunities in science and math shouldn’t stop when the school bell rings. Balancing formal and informal instruction in STEM can be an effective way to introduce and engage student interest in the subjects. Many experts note participation in afterschool activities help students learn the oft-desired soft skills, such as teamwork and communication, and the enjoyment and social setting is apt to prompt a youngster’s passion for STEM more quickly—and sustain it. Such extracurricular activities can take many forms—research projects, visits to local factories, mentors, contests, and clubs—and are provided by schools, parent volunteers, college students, community groups, businesses, universities, and organizations. This panel will identify STEM afterschool programs with proven track records of motivating and inspiring youngsters’ interests in STEM, explain possible connections that instructors can make with in-class lessons, and address topics such as how to fund such efforts to spreading the word among parents and students.
Successful programs targeting minorities utilize a multi-pronged strategy, including offering mentor support, strengthening teaching practices, and securing funding/grants from major corporations to support scholarships, summer research projects, and internships. This panel will examine the successful approaches to keeping and retaining minorities in STEM and discuss various strategies that are being implemented around the country.
Not getting the coverage you’d like? This panel features four to five top education and science journalists discussing what goes into their reporting, from how they approach a STEM-related story to deciding which pitches to pursue and making final edits. Learn from these top journalists how to pitch them, what most interests them, and what constitutes a strong story. In addition, attendees can take advantage of the Q&A session to share with the panel their thoughts on what’s missing in today’s STEM coverage in the media.
More and more communities across the nation have formed STEM partnerships with a shared vision and action plans. They are engaging partners from across the spectrum of business, education, government and community-based organizations in their work, and are already beginning to see the fruits of their collaboration. Many communities also experience growing pains in evolving from start-up initiatives to – ultimately – the ongoing delivery of collective impact. This challenge exists at the local, regional, statewide and even national level. Join this workshop with leaders from STEMx states who are engaged in the work on the ground required to move networks along the continuum toward collective impact. Learn how to apply STEMx tools – developed by the states, for the states – to your own community.
8:35 - 9:45 a.m.
KEYNOTE REMARKS
Surya Kant, President, North America, UK and Europe, Tata Consultancy Services
KEYNOTE PANEL: WHAT BIG EMPLOYERS WANT
Seth D. Harris, Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor
Sajan Pillai, CEO, UST Global
Michael Araten, President and CEO, K’NEX
Moderator:
Jack Ford, Cofounder AmericanEDtv and CBS News Legal Analyst
PREVIEW OF STEM 2014
Marc Schulman, Executive Director, USA Science & Engineering Festival
Well-designed digital environments can potentially reduce overall education costs in K-12 and boost quality at the same time. Computer software, for example, is being used to free teacher time by taking over tasks, like grading papers, distributing assignments, and assessing class work in labs. But K-12 schools need to carefully question how digital tools will specifically enhance the teaching of various subjects and develop well-thought out plans to train teachers in advance to test out and implement the new tools effectively. Administrators must also secure funding for technology resources and generally rely on diverse sources (state, district, parental) for purchase. This panel will discuss tried-and-true guidelines for making the right investment choices, as well as how to better share knowledge within and among school districts or localities.
Despite the weak national economy, many well-paying jobs requiring STEM degrees are going unfilled. Business and industry are not finding the talent they need in key fields, and many recent college graduates seeking jobs are frustrated that their skills and academic backgrounds do not align with workforce needs. This session will focus on strategies to align STEM undergraduate education with the highest demand jobs and increase the number of STEM graduates. Business and academic leaders will explore how to develop more effective “signaling mechanisms” to articulate and respond to workforce needs. They will also discuss innovative regional projects they are developing with the Business-Higher Education Forum designed to partner companies with postsecondary institutions, increase STEM skills and degree attainment, and align undergraduate education with regional workforce requirements.
Many of the nation’s two-year institutions have rapidly stepped up to design coursework to fill the specific training needs of the businesses in their local areas. The National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, for example, is a multi-pronged initiative aimed at shoring up job training through a range of partnerships with colleges and businesses. AMTEC, for instance, is a partnership of several Kentucky community colleges and major car manufacturers, while the San Francisco-area Bio-Link Center focuses on area schools and employers in the biotechnology realm. Around the country, such partnerships between community colleges and local businesses are producing skilled employees for actual jobs. This session will explore success stories and offer advice on how such partnerships can be replicated.
There are more than 100 public high schools in the country, including a great many in Texas through the state’s T-STEM initiative, that give special focus to STEM education. These institutions produce graduates that are much more likely to pursue college degrees in STEM, according to a 2011 report from the National Research Council. What attributes of these schools are showing promise? What lessons can traditional high schools, public and private, draw from them to boost their own STEM efforts? Come along and explore these all-things STEM schools with some of their leaders and officials.
Helping students meet rigorous new standards and assessments begins by training K-12 educators, many of whom have been in the classroom for decades. Professional development is taking a variety of forms: intensive workshops and summer institutes; books and online instruction; off-the-shelf curricula that come with training in how to teach them; and outreach from university-based STEM education centers. Some states, too, are introducing teacher training aligned to the new Common Core math standards, appointing local and regional teacher leaders and building comprehensive toolkits to help educators. This session will describe effective professional development programs already at work and identify the most successful strategies in states that have been earliest in moving forward with new standards.
Until recently, many students with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, autism, and Asperger’s syndrome found themselves faced with nearly insurmountable barriers when considering STEM careers. But increasingly diverse strategies are being employed to bring down these barriers, including the development of new assistive technologies. Various organizations are developing programs to help train teachers to work with students with disabilities, setting up mentoring programs, and promoting the use and development of the assistive technologies. This panel will feature innovative methods, practices, and programs that assist students with disabilities in STEM education.
Most people are plugged in. Connected. Friended. Followed. Linked. Pinned. RSS fed. And ready to consume fresh digital content as it rolls in. That's life in our digitally centered culture, and it’s essential to leverage digital and social media to meet and continually connect with our audiences where they are. This panel features one of the Obama 2012 campaign social media gurus and GMMB digital strategist and vice president Shannon Raybold. They will focus on practical steps you can put into action for your organization, with a focus on digital storytelling– including examples of best practices on top platforms, ideas for STEM fields, and a take-home tip sheet.
Have you ever wondered how policy could help you achieve goals like closing opportunity gaps in STEM education, scaling a best practice or building a STEM capable workforce? Or wanted to get expert advice on how to champion STEM in the media, with policymakers and the grassroots? Then this workshop is for you. Get ready to roll up your sleeves alongside colleagues who have led successful policy and advocacy campaigns in STEMx states. STEMx will debut actionable solutions that STEMx state leaders have put into practice. Working with a breakout group and a STEMx peer consultant, you will gain new tools and resources that will help you identify high-impact state policy levers and develop advocacy strategies in support of your STEM goals.
U.S. News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon
Presented by National Instruments
KEYNOTE REMARKS AND AWARDS PRESENTATION
Ray Almgren, Vice President, Marketing, National Instruments
Hall of Fame Honoree Discussion
Dan Arvizu, Ph.D., Director and Chief Executive, U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Chairman, National Science Board
Sylvia Earle, Ph.D., Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Society
Irwin Mark Jacobs, Sc.D., Founding Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Qualcomm
Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-Founder, National Center for Women & Information Technology
Charles M. Vest, Ph.D., President, National Academy of Engineering; President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moderator:
Brian Kelly, President and Chief Content Officer, U.S. News & World Report
