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STEMmobile school tour stops in state capital

January 21, 2014

Policy-makers in Nashville will get a chance to see STEM education up close today as the STEMmobile, a mobile STEM laboratory of the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network , is on exhibit at Nashville’s legislative plaza.

Some of the first students of 9,000 students that will visit Tennessee’s STEMmobile over the coming year.
Click on this image to see more pictures from the STEMmobile blog.

On a brief break from its tour of schools across 20 counties in rural Tennessee, the STEMmobile will be in Nashville for the first time since completion. Visitors can walk through this mobile STEM lab on wheels and experience the same high-tech and innovative STEM practices that the STEMmobile delivers to grade-school students across the rural Upper Cumberland region of the state.

Built and operated by the Upper Cumberland Rural STEM Initiative , a hub of the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, the STEMmobile was designed to bring much-needed technology to the doorsteps of rural schools in its partnering districts. Housed in a 53′ tractor-trailer with self-contained power, its own HVAC system, a satellite uplink for internet connectivity, and workstations for twenty-four students, this mobile classroom is stocked with equipment from Tennessee Tech University’s Oakley STEM Center and includes iPads, laptops, hand-held data collection devices, and other high-tech instructional equipment.  When they step inside, students have immediate access to state-of-the-art equipment that is not always readily available in rural schools.

The STEMmobile itself is a model of the kind of broad partnership we see advancing STEM in each one of the STEMx member states. Through partnerships with businesses like  Averitt Express, Inc. and universities like Tennessee Tech, the STEMmobile is able to travel throughout the Upper Cumberland region to reach rural students that otherwise might not have access to these high-tech STEM tools. It is these broad partnerships between education, government, and business that also help sustain the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, a STEMx network collaborator supported jointly by the Tennessee Department of Education and Battelle.

To see updates about the STEMmobile’s open house or to learn more about the network, follow the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network on Twitter at @theTSIN or visit TSIN.org.

Celebrating the 2023 STEM Innovation Forum

By Rob Evans • November 1, 2023
by Heather Sherman, Director of STEMx The 2023 STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce was a success! Through our collaboration with STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, we convened 160 leaders from industry, government, non-profit organizations, and education institutions from all over the United States to discuss strategies and best practices to support the STEM workforce. We were honored to host a variety of dynamic speakers including: Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado Brynt Parmeter, Chief Talent Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense Dr. Athina Kanioura, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, PepsiCo and Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, Founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (RoX). We extend our gratitude to our panelists, Learning Session speakers, and participants who joined us in Denver. Broadening participation We set out share information on trends in STEM education and workforce development, with an emphasis on broadening participation in STEM careers. Resources from sessions highlighting strategies for broadening participation are linked below: DoD STEM: Developing a STEM Workforce to Support the National Security Mission Priming the Pump for High Demand STEM Careers STEM Workforce Readiness for Teen Girls: “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” Driving change Another goal of the forum was to feature high impact strategies, programs and solutions that are driving change, and STEMx members from LASTEM , the PAST Foundation and MBRT showed how they are engaging youth and building career awareness through their workforce programs. Emerging technologies We looked towards the future to better understand how emerging technologies will change the world and the ways we must prepare STEM talent for jobs in logistics, artificial intelligence, research safety , bioenergy , and renewable technologies. Chevron‘s sponsored panel, “Cultivating the Talent to Drive the Innovation and Technologies for Ever-Cleaner Energy” was a rich discussion featuring experts from Chevron, Project Lead the Way and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Jamie Vernon, Executive Director, and CEO, Sigma Xi Society was a fantastic moderator for this discussion. Next steps We have linked event resources including videos, slide decks and collateral on the event landing page . The event photo gallery is located there as well. If you attended, please complete our 30 second event survey . Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a Forum water bottle! More importantly, your feedback matters to us. If you did not attend, mark your calendar for next fall - we’re looking to make next year even bigger! If you are interested in hosting in your state, or have thoughts about compelling content that we should include, please reach out to Heather Sherman .

STEM Innovation Forum: Agenda and New Sponsors

By Rob Evans • October 3, 2023
Join us for The STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce
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