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Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin
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This Week's Topics:
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| The National 4-H Council and the 3M Foundation have announced a strategic partnership to launch "The Power of the Wind," a cutting-edge educational resource that teaches youth how to use engineering principles to design and to build alternative energy projects, utilizing wind as the primary resource. This new national curriculum was funded by a $500,000 grant from 3M Foundation, and adds to 4-H's continued commitment to providing quality, hands-on science, engineering, and technology programs to millions of youth nationwide. 4-H, part of the Cooperative Extension System of the United States Department of Agriculture, will also launch The Power of the Wind Online to provide multi-media resources and activities that supplement the curriculum and enable 4-H youth to engage in alternative energy issues. 4-H programs are implemented by the 106 Land Grant Universities through more than 3,100 local Cooperative Extension offices across the country. The grant aims to reach 1.3 million middle-school youth and to target 730,000 4-H youth engaged in energy projects in virtually every county in the nation. 4-H and 3M, one of the nation's leading diversified technology companies, understand that the technology required to meet today's environmental challenges -- such as energy use, climate change, recycling, and natural resource stewardship -- will count on a diverse American workforce that is highly skilled in science and engineering disciplines. By aligning with 4-H's science, engineering, and technology mission and the recently announced campaign "One Million New Scientists. One Million New Ideas," 3M's generous grant will help 4-H spark youth interest in science and increase the number of young adults pursuing science-related careers. The Power of the Wind curriculum is currently being piloted nationally in six sites across the U.S., representing optimal diversity from urban and suburban communities. Triangle Coalition member, 3M, is a $22.9 billion diversified technology company with leading positions in electronics, telecommunications, industrial, consumer and office, health care, safety, and other markets. In 2007, 3M and the 3M Foundation donated more than $42 million in cash and products to U.S. educational and charitable institutions. Learn more about 3M at www.mmm.com. . |
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| Just in time for the new school year, the Sloan Career Cornerstone Center (SCCC), has updated the look of the broad career planning website, and also has expanded to include several new fields in healthcare including podiatry, psychology, and many additional areas in allied health, medical technology, and science technology. The site, available at www.careercornerstone.org, is a resource for anyone interested in exploring career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computing, and healthcare. Careers profiled, span a wide range of degrees, including associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. It is broadly used by career counselors, teachers, and others who provide guidance to middle and high school students about career paths in STEM and healthcare. "The site has been extremely helpful in the work we do with our high school students," says Ruth Carrigan, the Director of Guidance at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Massachusetts. "We were pleased to see the site expand to describe interesting careers that could be reached by those who are seeking two-year associate degrees," she added. "There are so many careers in STEM that our students see as attainable -- and through the SCCC they can really get a feel for what a day in the life of someone working in these fields is like." The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center now offers resources on over 150 degree fields. Within each area, site visitors can review profile of the field, and links to video or print profiles of professionals working in many areas, downloadable lists of employers and degree granting universities, salary data, links to professional associations, and descriptions of different types of academic degrees. Weekly career podcasts are also available through the site and through Itunes, and a monthly newsletter provides timely stories that allow students to draw connections from education to the world of business, industry, and research. Find out more at www.careercornerstone.org. . |
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The Texas Instruments (TI) Foundation recently presented awards to 10 outstanding teachers from the Dallas, Plano, and Richardson independent school districts (ISD) and inducted them into its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Academy as fellows. The TI Foundation established the Innovations in STEM Awards in 2006 to recognize instructors who consistently demonstrate quality instruction, enhance student achievement and increase interest in junior high and high school classrooms. As STEM fellows, the teachers participate in a unique professional development program at TI that provides an up-close look at the future of technology, exposure to senior technology leaders, and the opportunity to share their ideas about quality STEM education with peers. The award recipients each receive $10,000, of which $5,000 is directly awarded to the teacher. The other $5,000 is to be used at the teacher's discretion for professional development or instructional technology. . |
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| Students from Buchanan High School in Clovis, CA, who took part in a 48 hour space station simulation, experienced an extra boost when they received a call from the real International Space Station. Students at the school participated in a live in-flight education downlink with the International Space Station on August 25 that included a live question-and-answer session with Expedition 17 astronaut Greg Chamitoff. The students were participating in the Columbia Project, a simulated space station experience that exposes them to the challenging endeavor of human space exploration. The program, currently in its third year, is coordinated by a district educator who is a member of NASA's Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers Project which helps incorporate NASA education resources into school curriculum. To prepare for the downlink, Columbia Project participants engaged in creating mock-ups of the space station and mission control, rocket fabrication, astronaut selection and training, and mission control and station operations. Triangle Coalition member, NASA, offers education downlinks that support the agency's efforts to encourage students to study and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). These events, facilitated by NASA's Teaching From Space Office use the unique experience of human space flight to promote and enhance STEM education. The downlink aired live on NASA Television and is available at www.nasa.gov/ntv. For information about NASA's education programs, visit www.nasa.gov/education. . |
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Officials at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation have announced a $3 million campaign to fund programs aimed at improving student performance in science, technology, engineering, and math, known as the Silicon Valley STEM Initiative. Noting that students across Silicon Valley are falling behind in STEM subjects and may not be able to provide the future skilled workforce that area companies demand, Muhammed Chaudhry, SVEF president and CEO, said it is vital to provide enrichment programs to bridge the knowledge gap. The foundation is reaching out to business, civic, and education partners to help implement the STEM Initiative. SVEF, which provides resources to the county's 34 school districts, has already launched a math initiative - Stepping Up to Algebra - an accelerated Algebra I program. It launched this summer in four school districts, hosting 450 6th and 7th graders, who spent four weeks in intensive classroom study getting ahead in algebra to be better prepared to take Algebra I during the school year. . |
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| American high school student, Joyce Chai of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, has been named the international winner of the 2008 Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP), an international youth competition for water-related research. Chai received $5,000 and a crystal sculpture from HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden during a royal ceremony in August in Stockholm. The student's work, "Modeling the Toxic Effects of Silver Nanoparticles under Varying Environmental Conditions," demonstrated a novel technique to quantifying the potential toxicity of silver nanoparticles to the world's water sources and the environment as well as repudiated the assertion that consumer products that contain nanosilver are more reliable and less environmentally hazardous. Representing the United States, Chai competed against national winners from more than 30 countries at the international competition which is held every August in conjunction with the Stockholm Water Symposium during World Water Week in Sweden. Earlier this year, Chai was named the winner of the U.S. SJWP competition which is organized by the Water Environment Federation and sponsored by ITT Corporation (also the international sponsor), The Coca-Cola Company, and Delta Air Lines. Formed in 1928, the Water Environment Federation is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization representing water quality professionals throughout the world. For more information about the international SJWP competition, World Water Week, visit www.worldwaterweek.org. To learn more about the U.S. SJWP competition, visit www.wef.org. . |
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TCEB Sponsors
To find out how your organization can sponsor the TCEB or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/support.htm __________________________________________________________________________ |
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