News from NMTC

STEM Nights focus on lighting the spark of science in 4th & 5th graders. Each night is held at the middle school serving the elementary schools of the 4th and 5th graders. Each 2 1/2 hour night, divided into three time slots, offers each student 3 choices of the more than 20 experiments/demonstrations available.

The middle school students assist the experiments, many of which are augmented by junior and senior high school students – the power of this STEM approach is students assisting students who are teaching students

Every three years we rotate back to the original group of 5 middle schools – 3 in Harford County and 2 in Cecil County. John Carroll High School, representing private and home-schooled students is also included in this rotation.

The entire program is financially supported by NMTC; via member dues and fund-raising events during the year (and in-kind support from Cecil College and the respective middle schools involved) and run by volunteers from academia, industry & government who, through this program, are boldly creating new ways to inspire the desire for STEM education, not just for our region, but to strengthen our country’s most pressing national security issue – producing more scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, to put them to work solving our toughest problems in our economy and defense.

The NMTC, at its monthly member’s meeting, featuring Dr Pat Baker – ARL, awarded two teachers $500 each, for use in their classrooms to provide materials to support the units they develop in STEM Education. The members applauded this decision and the dedication of these teachers for adding this multi-year program to their already busy schedule.

The program these teachers will be participating in is Hub, Spoke & Capstone: A Towson University Integrated Elementary STEM Program for Harford/Cecil County Elementary Teachers.

These courses broaden teachers’ practical knowledge of teaching engineering, environmental science, and mathematics, exposing them to innovative teaching practices.

Dr. Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, is the Project Director and the creator of this program.

John Casner, Executive Director NMTC, serves on the steering committee for the project which includes leaders from both Harford and Cecil Counties School Systems

L to R
Dr. Pamela Lottero-Purdue, Project Director, Towson University
Renee Villareal, Havre de Grace Elementary School Principal,
Alison Baranowski, 4th Grade Teacher Havre de Grace Elementary School
Michael Parker, Chairman of the    Board, NMTC

L to R
Catherine Green, principal, Gilpin Manor Elementary, Cecil County
Principal
Leigh Catterton, Cecil County Public Schools Teacher
Michael Parker, Chairman of the    Board, NMTC
Dr. Pamela Lottero-Purdue, Project Director, Towson University

Today, we were pleased to have John Resta, Director of the USAPHC’s Army Institute of Public Health and Robert Cohen, MD, MPH, Preventive Medicine Physician, Disease Epidemiology Program, Army Institute of Public Health, at APG, present their investigation into, and the in-county support they provide, to fight this deadly disease.

This photo points out the BIG difference with EBOLA – most viruses are round-shape; Ebola is filament shaped. The body tends to an mount an un-welcomed, over-response to this shape/condition.

Dr. Cohen, an excellent presenter, not only gave an in-depth view of the facts, the hypothesis and concerns surrounding this world concern (it’s also in the Philippines as well as west Africa) but shared much information and anecdotes not on this power point. The large audience benefited form his insights, and were glad/relieved to listen first-hand.

His presentation is downloadable here: Ebola-Presentation-to-NMTC-by-US-Army-Medical-Health-Command-14-12-11.pdf

The second phase of the presentation covered the University of Maryland, Upper Chesapeake Heatlhcare excellent planning and preparation for receiving an Ebola patient, no matter how they enter their hospitals (North Harford included). Presenting were Gary Hicks, Amy Myers and Colleen Clay, who all three share presenting:

Training – 230 employees for weeks, as starters. Each employee donning and doffing the encapsulating protective suits and hood, many times over (20 minutes each phase)

Tools for Screening – the questions, observations and knowledge to support both

Tools for patient care – laboratory guidelines for transporting infected blood for analysis through the hallways, infectious waste disposal, and surprisingly, the purchase of music load speakers so all can hear when wearing the noise-muffling protective hoods. Lastly, anyone donning a protective suit, 4 are involved; the caregiver, a person dressing the caregiver, the person reading/checking instructions to both and an oversight person assuring all is correct…and that is before a patient can be seen.

We left confident that Upper Chesapeake is well-prepared. They now practice drills and re-train employees, weekly.

STEM Summit XI was held November 21, 2014, at Harford Community College, and featured many important speakers and topics. First we started the day with a brief overview of new STEM initiatives in Harford County Public Schools. Download the slides here. Harford Community College also presented information about its STEM initiatives.

One of the highlights of the morning was a panel discussion on technology in the classroom. Teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools shared with the audience how they are employing technology in the classroom and how it is changing instruction. It was a fascinating conversation.

Next, we heard a presentation from Cindy Hasselbring, special assistant to the State Superintendent on “Maryland’s Top STEM Priorities” and she shared information about the Maryland State Department of Education’s STEM strategic planning process. Those slides are available here. 

US News and World Report presented information about its newly developed “STEM Index,” which measures the national performance in STEM employment and subjects using 93 individual data points. This was a fascinating topic and we look forward to hearing more about the STEM Index in years to come. Download the slides here. 

Lastly, we broke into discussion groups on two topics — Technology in the Classroom and Women In STEM.

The next STEM Summit will be held in May 2014.

– See more at: http://www.stemforum.org/about-stem-forum/

The NMTC Visionary Awards formally established the Academy of Visionary Awards, at a social, Thursday evening, November 6, 2014, at Silks Restaurant, Bulle Rock Golf Club.

Attending this inaugural event were a majority of the previous 30 Visionary Awards honorees and representatives of the NMTC Board of Directors. Host for evening was Michael Seldes, VP at ACET, and an NMTC board member and chair of its Visionary Awards committee.

Opening remarks by John Casner, Executive Director NMTC, thanked all the honorees for their extraordinary service to the STEM community and described the expectations establishing the Academy of Visionary Awards  – To guide the Visionary Awards process going forward, nominate peers for future awards and serve as community ambassadors promoting the benefits of building a STEM qualified workforce; necessary to defend our nation and grow our national economy.

Committee chair Michael Seldes, along with NMTC Board Member Melissa Kuzma, President Kuzma Technical Enterprises, conducted interviews with all the honorees as to how they saw their role in STEM. A montage of these interviews will be aired at the Visionary Awards Gala, February 26, 2015

The Visionary Awards Gala celebrates our neighbors and colleagues making a difference in STEM Education and to Technology Advancement in our community, in five distinct categories – the Visionary (remarkable achievement), Leaders, Innovators, Mentors and Rising Stars. The evening gala honors the individuals in each of these five categories. Introduced in 2012,

Below are many of the honorees and NMTC board members attending, and a demonstration of the interview process.