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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 4, 2014
Contest Contact; diana.palma@ien.gatech.edu － 404.894.1541
Author; christa.ernst@ien.gatech.edu
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To actively engage K-12 grade students in STEM, a new campaign is being launched at the Georgia Institute of Technology that allows students to go online and fund, as well as actively participate in, a laboratory based graduate student research project being conducted in the cleanroom space housed at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech.
Marcus Cleanroom Fl1According to the National Science Foundation, the average annual growth rate of careers in science, engineering and technology in the United States is approximately 6.1%. Recent data also shows that college enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career paths is lagging behind job market growth with a predicted gap of 60% between STEM based graduates and STEM job availability by 2018. The economic health of the United States is directly related to its ability to stay at the forefront of innovation in these increasingly important employment fields. The most effective way to foster the future workforce is to encourage interest in STEM subjects while students are young.
To actively engage K-12 grade students in STEM, a new campaign is being launched at the Georgia Institute of Technology that allows students to go online and fund, as well as actively participate in, a laboratory based graduate student research project being conducted in the cleanroom space housed at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech. The “Teachable Moments” crowd-funding project is the brainchild of James Meindl, Professor Emeritus in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Meindl has always looked to the future in both electronics, and to the future workforce of science and engineering. Meindl began a career in engineering while working for the U.S. Army in what was at the time, the new field of microelectronics. In his post-military career, Meindl devoted his life to developing the future of microelectronics through the academic guidance of graduate students at Stanford University; The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was both the director of the Microelectronics Research Center and the founding director of the Nanotechnology Research Center.
Given the path his life work has taken, and the love of teaching that kept him in academia, it is not surprising that Meindl’s legacy project would be student- and learning-focused. Meindl, in concert with several other Georgia Tech-based centers and organizations, is launching the collaborative educational outreach program for graduate students conducting microelectronics- and nanotechnology-related research. The program is designed to allow graduate students the chance to develop a demonstration around their research to be presented to K-12 students to encourage an interest in STEM education and to engage the future workforce in high technology research.
The age range targeted is directly related to the future forecasting that Meindl so loves. In an overview interview about the project, Meindl stated that given the predicted growth of the science and engineering workforce, there is an immense need to drive younger students to understand and develop an interest in these critical fields. The project also serves to teach graduate students ways to engage the public in their field and their particular research interests and to give them and their work public exposure to which they might not otherwise have access.
To fund the projects, $1,000 stipends have been created with cost share commitments from Meindl, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the ACE/Sloan Legacy Project, and the Vice President of Institute Diversity. To engage the public in sponsoring these activities, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) crowd funding website has set aside space where the public can contribute funds to any of 20 graduate student projects. Donors get to be involved with desired “Teachable Moments” in various ways, ranging from Skype time with the researcher to research lab tours. Graduate students will receive the stipend to create a demonstration, develop professional outreach training, and gain public exposure.
Invitations to pitch demonstrations for funding in the “Teachable Moments” campaign will be sent to graduate students and advisors on February 3, 2014. To find out more information on how to engage with a student researcher and fund a demonstration visit: https://starter.gatech.edu/index.php/project/161
“Teachable Moments” is an ACE/Sloan legacy project with matching funding provided by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology –and support from the Vice President of Institute Diversity.
