Gov. Holcomb Announces First STEM Team Award Winners

Governor Eric J. Holcomb, Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jennifer McCormick and Treasurer Kelly Mitchell today announced the winners of the 2017 Governor’s STEM Team awards.

The awards highlight Indiana’s elite high school students for their work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Each winner received a $1,000 college scholarship through Indiana’s CollegeChoice 529 Direct Savings Plan, letter jackets identifying them as members of the Governor’s STEM Team, and tickets to Gen Con Indy, the longest-running gaming convention in the world.

The awardees are:
Science – Ujwala Pamidimukkala (Columbus North High School)
Technology – Samantha Fassnacht (Westfield High School)
Engineering – Miranda Shook (Greenfield-Central High School)
Math – Truman Bennet (Marion High School)

“These four students have demonstrated excellence in subjects that are fueling the innovation and entrepreneurship to build our economic future,” Gov. Holcomb said. “It’s a pleasure to recognize their hard work on a statewide level and elevate Indiana’s academic superstars. I can’t wait to see where the future takes these bright young Hoosiers.”

“Success in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math drives our students and our state forward,” said Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. “I am excited to see the passion for STEM exhibited by Ujwala, Samantha, Miranda and Truman, and I am honored to be a part of the 2017 Governor’s STEM Team award ceremony.”

For more details go to https://goo.gl/XO4da5.

American Chemical Society Seeking Programming Inputs

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is seeking input on programming from teachers as well as out-of-school educators in the ACS central region. The purpose of this survey is to gain information about educator-focused programming that would benefit educators attending the ACS CERM in Midland, MI, 4-8 June 2019. All educators are welcome to participate in ACS CERM 2019 activities, including those who provide out-of-school or home school STEM programming. The mission of ACS is to communicate the power and benefit of chemistry and other natural sciences; ACS CERM 2019 can offer integrated activities as well.

This survey applies to educators in the ACS Central Region (including local sections in IN, KY, MI, OH, PA, and WV). In most instances, the survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Small gifts will be awarded at random to participating respondents that provide their email address. The survey can be accessed at:

https://goo.gl/forms/UgjwHPj1ubgqy9YE3

Please direct questions about the survey, or about education programs at ACS CERM 2019, to Gina Malczewski at <reginamalczewski@gmail.com>.

Student Spaceflight Experiments Program — Mission 12 to the International Space Station

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education announces Mission 12 to the International Space Station. This opportunity gives students across a community the ability to design and propose microgravity experiments to fly in low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station (ISS). One experiment in each community will be selected to fly to ISS. Mission 12 is open to school districts serving grades 5-12, informal education organizations and 2- and 4-year colleges. Interested communities must inquire about the program no later than June 15, 2017.

An important consideration: the expectation is that a team of educators in a participating community will engage typically 300 students, for a pre-college initiative, or 30-40 students for an undergraduate initiative, over 9 weeks of experiment design and proposal writing spanning September through November 2017.

Students across the community are separated into teams of 3-5 students, each team designing and proposing a microgravity experiment, and making the case for why their experiment should be selected for flight to ISS. The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) provides a fully authentic research competition as a STEM Project Based Learning experience.

Launch of the Mission 12 flight experiments is currently projected for Spring 2018.

For more information click here.

May 2017 Issue of STEM-IN’ News

The May 2017 issue of STEM-IN’ News is available here.

Included in this issue:

Coming Events
Grant Opportunities
Resources for STEM Educators
STEM Opportunities

STEM Ambassadors Opportunity

The Indiana State Museum is partnering with SciTrends.org to recruit teen ambassadors in our community who will work as project outreach agents and advocates through social media by producing video content using cell phones to spread interest in science and technology among their peers. The kickoff event will be May 4 at the Indiana State Museum. Click here for more details.

April STEM-IN’ News is Available

The April STEM-IN’ News is available here.

In This Issue:

NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge
JA JobSpark Returns to Indy
Extending the STEM Learning Day
STEM in the Indiana General Assembly
Indiana ESSA Call to Action

Extending the STEM Learning Day

Bob Abrams from the Indiana Afterschoool Network and Paul Ainslie from I-STEM presented a workshop entitled “Extending the STEM Learning Day” at the 2017 Indiana Summit on Out-of-School Learning. The focus of the workshop was to understand how Learning Ecosystems are formed and then progress through a 10 step process in launching a Learning Ecosystem. The presentation can be found here.

Registration is now open for Indiana STEM Taskforce Meeting May 2 at Conner Prairie

Registration is now open for the Spring 2017 Indiana STEM Education Taskforce Meeting to be held on May 2, 2017 at Conner Prairie in Fishers. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10AM EDT and should end at 3PM. The theme for this meeting is College and Career Readiness: Building Learning Ecosystems Across Indiana. The keynote speaker for this event will be Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Indiana Department of Education.

Please register for this event (no cost!) and indicate any dietary requirements also. An updated agenda is available at the registration site too.

Please click on this link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indiana-stem-education-taskforce-tickets-33190356249 .

Initiative to Focus on Indiana’s STEM Legacy

Indiana Humanities has launched a statewide initiative aimed at celebrating the legacy of Hoosiers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The two-year initiative, known as Quantum Leap, will include grants, programs and other resources to explore the connections between the humanities and STEM.

The initiative will offer Quantum Leap Grants of up to $4,000 for libraries, museums, historical societies and other tax-exempt organizations to develop their own public programs exploring the intersection of STEM and the humanities. It will also feature programs including the INconversation Series, a series of radio vignettes known as “Sound Bites” and a special program honoring the 200th anniversary of the classic horror novel Frankenstein.

You can read more here.

March 2017 STEM-IN’ News

The March 2017 issue of the Indiana STEM-IN’ Newsletter is available here.