News from NMTC

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.

Presentation CLICK DHS-presentation-to-NMTC-140911.pdf

Our speaker:
Dr. Famini is the Director of the Chemical Security Analysis Center (CSAC), established under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2006, co-located with Department of Defense assets at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. provides a scientific basis for the awareness of chemical threats and the assessment of risk to the American public due to chemical hazards.

The CSAC under Dr. Famini has established itself as a key interagency resource for chemical terrorism information, and has ongoing interagency collaboration with several key Departments, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, the FBI, the EPA, and other key assets within DHS.

Take aways by the NMTC executive team were:
Highlights of his presentation shared how their main focus on chemical risks have more to do with the domestic transportation of industrial chemicals as chlorine and ammonia; chlorine being the more concerning. Tracking, preventing spills and rapid response are the major focus. Literally, tons of these dangerous chemicals come through our cities, on truck or rail, every day.
Another DHS major business issue, now being resolved, is a more efficient way to buy equipment. Also, over 85% of their staff, at Edgewood, is contractor based  and continually expanding.

NMTC Board Member Dr. Dennis Golladay, President of Harford Community College, is featured in I95 BUSINESS as their August 2014 Influencer, click here for full article on page 22.

In addition, NMTC Executive Director John Casner is profiled in the summer 2014 edition of the CSSC Asset. click here for full article on page 13

See how NMTC drives technology growth through collaboration of its members and the larger community, by continually building ambassadors within the tech community, creating new and relevant programming for NMTC partners, taking on broad-based community missions as STEM Education and mentoring future leaders within the membership and technology sector as a whole.

NMTC on pages 13,14
Click here to view NMTC in CSSC Asset