Activity Reports

On Sept. 7, 2006, Dr. Jun Ni, President of STEMES attended the Forum: Taking Action Together": Developing an Action Plan to Address the "T&E" of STEM, organized by PTC-MIT Consortium, at National Academy of Science, Washington, DC. The forum brought together national leaders who are policymakers and practitioners, representing key stakeholders, from around the nation, to identify three to five specific activities/projects related to STEM. The forum focused on collaborations to address common Technology * Engineering issues.

First, the PIC-MIT Consortium was introduced. The mission of thsi consortium is to address the workforce through a partnership with federal government. The consotium representis 80 organizations with constituents across the US including federal and state agencies and congressional staff, corporations, professional societies and high education, K12 education, group serving underpresented populations, informal science centers, and communities education programs. The consotium has working group memners which set strategic direction.

The Forum had several sessions. The Welcome & Plenary session's theme is Updating the Activities of Technology & Engineering Around Country. Michael Golden, Deputy Secretary of the office of Information & Educational Technology, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Alice Seagren, Commissioner of Minnesota Department of Education, and Richard Rosen, Vice President of External Business Relations of Battelle reported the national or state-level activities regarding STEM activities. The outline of papers presented at at the Forum of "Moving beyond the Problem -- Strategic Next Step for Enhancing the STEM Workforce" hosted by Senator Mike Enzi and Senator Edward M. Kennedy on March 31, 2006 in DC was passed to the attendees for updating and review.

The forum had its first session which is to identify common interests. The forum divided attendees into several groups. Each group focuses on one of common interest. The main STEM interests are from several PTC-MIT consortium members such as federal and state agencies and congressional staff, corporations, professional societies and high education, K12 education, group serving underpresented populations, informal science centers, communities education programs. Each group has a session chair to facilitate the discussion. The sesion goal is to develop a list of the top three priorities on which to take actions to address STEM issue.After the morning session, each facilitator representing his/her group presented the discussion results. The session guided questions are organization or attendee's introduction, specific programs which had been utilized, when these actions took place, what is the important issues and priorities of the actions. The afternoon sessions focued on "taking action together". Many representitives talked about their experiences and provide brain storms for future actions.