NYU-Poly Launches #STEMNow To Jumpstart Conversation about STEM Education

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 07/11/13

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) has launched #STEMNow, a campaign designed to spark a national conversation about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and to highlight 16 summer programs at the school.

The #STEMNow social media campaign asks participants to follow "fellow students, educators, policy makers, and STEM professionals in discussions about what they are doing in STEM now, propelling the national drive for high-quality STEM education and demonstrating how to improve instruction in STEM fields," according to a news release from NYU-Poly.

To demonstrate the need for the initiative, the school pointed to one study that found only two percent of surveyed high school students understood what computer scientists do and another that showed 61 percent of math-proficient students in grade 12 claimed to have no interest in a STEM career.

"The United States was founded in a culture of curiosity, creativity and a can-do spirit," said Theresa Maldonado, head of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Engineering Education and Centers, in a prepared statement. "Today's conversation is about helping students realize the connection between STEM and that enduring spirit. STEM education is vital to enable anyone and everyone to contribute, in his or her own way, to the great future of our country. Empowerment is the first step, and the National Science Foundation is here to support inspiring approaches to success."

Designed for teachers, college faculty, and middle and high school students, the #STEMNow summer programs will include the participation of NYU-Poly faculty who specialize in fields such as bioengineering, cyber security, and mechatronics.

Examples of summer programs include:

• SMARTER, based on NYU-Poly's Science and Mechatronics Aided Research for Teachers, is a paid research opportunity for middle and high school teachers. Participants will take part in two weeks of workshops and four weeks of research with faculty and graduate students in the school's bioengineering labs;
• Cybersecurity boot camps for high school girls, high school teachers, and college instructors;
• College-credit courses, reduced by 75 percent from standard undergraduate tuition, for high school students; and
• Applied Research Innovation in Science and Engineering (ARISE), designed for high school students with insufficient access to STEM education, students of color, and students from low-income homes, is a seven-week-long program featuring mentoring, lab work, and college-level course work in a range of STEM fields.

"This institution has a long history of educating promising students from our community, admitting many young people from New York's neighborhoods and helping them to obtain the knowledge and skills to become successful scholars, researchers, entrepreneurs, and highly valued employees," said Katepalli R. Sreenivasan, NYU-Poly president and NYU dean of engineering, in a prepared statement. "Our Center for K12 STEM Education and others across campus exemplify that mission by developing programs, curricula, and teacher training that reaches into K-12 schools across Brooklyn, New York, and throughout the United States — early enough to prepare young students for STEM studies at the university level."