STEM In The News: 

“One Small Step for Women in STEM: The First-Ever All-Female Spacewalk is Finally Happening”

“NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are scheduled to conduct the first-ever all-female spacewalk this week to make an important and urgent repair to replace one of the International Space Station’s power controllers that failed over the past weekend.” Read about this historical event and why it is an important moment for women in STEM!

Maryland STEM Festival

The 2019 Maryland STEM Festival, the annual state-wide celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, opened October 11th  with over a dozen events in seven counties and runs through November 10th . It will consist of over 700 events across the state with at least one event in every county and Baltimore City.  The Festival’s theme is Space and Flight in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11th Lunar Landing. The mission of the Festival is to encourage all students, regardless of age, background and experience to take a greater interest in STEM with the hope that they will pursue a STEM-related/focused career. Maryland is one of the few states in the nation to have a state-wide STEM or Science Festival. Most of the events are open to the public, free of charge, family-oriented, and FUN!  Some of the signature events are described on the website:  http://marylandstemfestival.org/

“Getting involved with STEM”

“GO-STEM combines education and professional development to reach students who may never have considered a career in the fields of STEM.” “GO-STEM doesn’t want to only educate students, however. Some of its programs involve working with educators and businesses on how to connect with the younger generation, offering classes and programs on presenting to and teaching youth.” Read more to find out how GO-STEM is helping everyone get involved in STEM! 

“Diversity rates in STEM on the rise”

“If you put four people with the same background, the same experience, and they’re trying to come up with ideas, they’re all coming off the same points,” Schauer said. “But if you have different genders, different ethnicities, different experience levels, different interests, you’re getting ideas that lead to innovation.” Read more to see how Boise State University has been steadily increasing the percentage of women and people of color in their STEM programs, and why it’s beneficial to everyone.