Give a Book. Change a Life.

Community Outreach@rtp will be running a book drive from April 19 to May 15, and we need your new and gently used children’s books!

Books in the home are the single biggest predictor of academic success – yet more than half of our country’s low-income children do not own a single book, setting them up to struggle in school and to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

The books we collect will be donated to Books on Break, a program to enable Durham’s low-income children to select up to ten books to take home and keep at the end of the school year.  These books will help arrest the summer slide that plagues low-income children and that contributes to the achievement gap.

There are a few easy ways to participate:

• Between now and May 15^th, simply drop your book donations in the specially marked bins located at RTP Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive (and at the Food Truck Rodeo on the 19^th).  Your company may be hosting drop off bins as well.

• If you don’t have gently used books at home to donate, please consider purchasing new books.  To make it even easier, buy books from Books on Break’s Amazon wish list and have them shipped directly to the RTP Headquarters:  http://amzn.com/w/1HQGXBNUBPF0X
  OR
  Stop by the Regulator Bookshop on Ninth Street in Durham and purchase a new book to donate to Books on Break; you’ll receive a 20% discount.

We need books for elementary school children (1^st through 6^th grade), from picture books to chapter books.  And we are grateful for both new books and gently used books that your kids may have outgrown.

Books on Break is a joint project of Community Outreach@rtp (a committee of the RTP Owners and Tenants Assocation), Book Harvest and Durham Public Schools.

To learn more, please visit www.bookharvestnc.org and www.rtp.org/community. And if you’d like to host a drop off location at your office, we have sign templates and flyers available at www.rtp.org/community.

Thank you for helping Triangle kids experience the joy of book ownership this summer!

2012 North Carolina Science Festival

Guest blog post by Julie Rhodes, North Carolina Science Festival

The North Carolina Science Festival is a multi-day celebration showcasing science and technology. The Festival highlights the educational, cultural and financial impact of science in our state. Through hands-on activities, science talks, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits and performances, the Festival engages a wide range of public audiences while inspiring future generations.

Hands-on activities provide a glimpse into real-life science challenges. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Science Festival

Attention all science enthusiasts! The North Carolina Science Festival, the annual statewide Festival celebrating all things science and technology –related, is about to arrive near you!

With more than 500 events on this year’s Festival calendar, there’s sure to be something for everyone. The North Carolina Science Festival runs April 13-29, 2012.

With a mission to inspire and inform the public about the foundations and frontiers of scientific discovery, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center proudly produces the North Carolina Science Festival.

With more than 500 choices, there's sure to be anl event to suit nearly every science tastebud. Photo courtesy of Counter Culture Coffee.

The Festival, a two-week, statewide series of programs that showcase science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), highlights the educational, cultural and financial impact of the STEM disciplines on North Carolina. It includes hands-on activities, science talks, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits, performances and other events, and engages a wide range of audiences while inspiring the next generation. It serves as a vehicle for encouraging students to pursue STEM careers and for businesses to invest in North Carolina.

This year the Festival is bringing three TV science personalities that you won’t want to miss. Jeff Corwin, wildlife biologist and Animal Planet TV host, is coming to Greensboro; Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of PBS’s “NOVA scienceNOW,” in coming to Chapel Hill; and Adam and Jamie, hosts of Discovery Channel ‘s “MythBusters,” are coming Charlotte.

Curious about the science-economy connection? Some businesses are hosting behind-the-scenes tours during the Festival. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Science Festival.

But it’s not all superstar talent at the Festival. You can get your science kicks with events like the Kannapolis Zucchini 500, the Robot Rumble in Durham, or Train Rides in New Hill! To find more events near you, visit www.ncsciencefestival.org.

The 2012 Festival Champion is Time Warner Cable. 2012 Platinum sponsors include Burroughs Wellcome Fund, NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and SAS. 2012 Gold Sponsors include Biogen Idec Foundation, Duke Energy and News 14 Carolina. The Festival is proudly produced by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. Charlotte’s Discovery Place is a key strategic partner.

A new public charter STEM high school in Research Triangle Park

By Dr. Amanda Marvelle, Guest Blogger from Research Triangle High School

Did you know that RTP will soon have its very own high school dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning?  Research Triangle High School (RTHS) is anticipating opening as a public charter school in RTP this August 2012.  The school’s launch is spearheaded by Pamela Blizzard, a founder of nationally-ranked Raleigh Charter High School, and of the science education non-profit Contemporary Science Center in Durham’s Museum of Life and Science.

RTHS will offer an education that blends digital materials with experiential learning, enabling us to reach a broad spectrum of learners, and to develop young people into mature, sophisticated thinkers and doers. We hope to draw applicants from a range of academic, economic and minority backgrounds… a school that will represent the diversity of the Triangle. Our goal is to accelerate learning for all who come to this school, preparing them for college and our globally competitive work world.

Innovations at RTHS:

* Cutting-edge instructional techniques will blend digital material and collaborative experiences, reflecting the mobile world in which we live and work today.

* ‘Flipped’ course work will allow students to learn from digital lectures and material outside of class time, and to learn from group labs, seminars and collaborative projects during class time, allowing much greater differentiation for students’ learning.

* Research Triangle industry internships and projects, developed through partnerships with surrounding companies, will allow students to develop skills and a solid sense of the work-world around them and their place in it.

* An extended school day will provide more opportunities for instruction and help outside of class, as well as overcome transportation barriers.

* Learning Teams of teachers and industry experts will support key STEM learning objectives, creating a fertile field of experts collaborating to create better learning opportunities for students both at RTHS and beyond.

Are you the parent of a rising 9th grader and looking at high school options?  We are anticipating charter approval by February 3^rd. The student application period will open for rising ninth grade students on February 4th and close on March 15.  The school will begin with a ninth grade class of 160 students, and add a new grade each fall until grades 9-12 are covered with a projected student enrollment of 420. For more details visit:www.researchtrianglehighschool.org.

Research Triangle High School RTP Open Houses

Friday, February 10^th 12 PM to 1 PM
Wednesday, February 15^th 5:30 PM to 7 PM

Research Triangle Park Headquarters
12 Davis Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

Celebrating STEM

by Elizabeth Ward, Guest Blogger from Citizen Schools

STEM. It’s one of those buzz words that people talk about in the media, politics, education, debates, etc. But what is this STEM? Stem cell research? Plant stems? A slang term referring to someone with nice legs? At Citizen Schools North Carolina STEM means changing the lives of low income middle students. STEM is a chance to expose young Americans to new careers, new opportunities and a new chance to succeed. STEM is power created through learning science, technology, engineering and math and at Citizen Schools, we know how to do STEM right. How? Apprenticeships.

The numbers don’t lie. Less than 1/3 of America’s 8^th grade students are proficient in math and science. Kids don’t want to pursue careers in STEM because quite frankly, they don’t know how. Among the few teens who do express interest in science and math careers, nearly 2/3 say they won’t because they don’t know anyone who work STEM careers and don’t understand what people actually do in STEM careers. Citizen Schools changes those statistics.

At Citizen Schools, we bring professionals off the sidelines and into the classroom to teach hands-on learning projects called apprenticeships. Engineers, electricians, scientists, come to Durham’s most struggling middle schools once a week for 10 weeks and make STEM relevant. They turn a broad concept into something the students can touch, see, smell and feel. They make STEM real.

At Citizen Schools STEM is planting an urban garden. It’s when a 6^th grade student who was initially afraid to get her hands dirty tried to take home worms from her worm decomposition bin because she was so excited about gardening.

At Citizen Schools STEM is producing and editing a student made film. It’s when a young lady gets so excited about the chance to work with a real video camera that she wrote her own song about the experience which became the theme song for a student produced movie.

At Citizen Schools STEM is creating a robot out of Legos and actually making it move. It’s when a group of students turn a mess of Lego parts into working, moving robots that they programmed all by themselves.

At Citizen Schools, STEM happens. For the first time, we are celebrating STEM in Durham, the Citizen Schools way. Come join other STEM professionals, the Citizen Schools staff and most importantly our student apprentices as they teach back what they have learned in their STEM apprenticeships this semester at Neal Middle School. Come say, “WOW!” with us and celebrate the future STEM professionals of America.

These kids know STEM. Let’s thank them in advance for making a better future for our country.

Citizen Schools STEM WOW!

Tuesday, November 29th

4:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.

Research Triangle Park Community Foundation

12 Davis Drive

Research Triangle Park NC, 27709

CLICK HERE TO R.S.V.P.

STEMulating the mind

It’s the first day of school for many students across the Triangle, including my own. And let me tell you. It was challenging to get my seventh grade daughter to pose for our traditional photo out in our front yard today.  She’s figuring it out. Her friends. Her interests. Her place in the world.

The fact of the matter is that kids start forming ideas in their minds, consciously or sub-consciously, about what they’re good at or not good at. By middle school, they’re already on a path.

To my relief and surprise when she got her schedule, she was thrilled to have science and pre-algebra first in the day.  But of all her friends, she’s one of the few to call those two classes “favorite subjects”.

Biogen and the RTP Women in Bio partnered to encourage young women in STEM careers

Well-documented trends have been reported nationally of declining interest, poor preparedness, a lack of diverse representation, and low persistence of U.S. students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines.

In a recent survey, a majority of students said that while their science and math teachers seem knowledgeable and keep class interesting, they aren’t teaching about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career options. High school students also said they don’t believe STEM knowledge is integral to getting a good job, which doesn’t bode well for leaders counting on STEM education to keep the nation at the forefront of the global economy.

Read more »

Enhancing US Competitiveness

President Obama’s Council on Jobs & Competitiveness visited the Research Triangle region last week. In addition to touring Cree’s manufacturing facilities, the Council had five listening sessions in the region and met as a full council for the second time.

Below is a compilation of links compiled by the Jobs Council to other agencies/initiatives working on issues related to increasing US competitiveness:

• Change the Equation: Change the Equation is a non-profit, non-partisan CEO-led initiative to solve America’s innovation problem. It answers the call of President Obama’s Educate to Innovate Campaign to move the U.S. to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade.
• U.S.- International Dialogue on Women in STEM: President Obama has made clear that as part of his commitment to “restore science to its rightful place” the United States needs to do more to engage young people and underrepresented groups in the pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers.
• Mentoring Our Future Generation of STEM Professionals: The STEM Programs works to ensure American competitiveness by promoting the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
• Better Building Initiative: President Obama’s Plan to Win the Future by Making American Businesses More Energy Efficient through the “Better Buildings Initiative.” The Better Buildings Initiative promotes investments in clean energy technologies.
• Smart Grid Technology Framework for the 21^st Century Grid: This policy framework describes the goals of the Obama Administration in meeting consumers’ energy needs, incentivizing renewable energy, and improving grid security. (Similarly, the N&O ran a story on NCSU’s research in the area).
• Startup America: The Startup America initiative connects entrepreneurs with successful businesses, opens up $2 billion in seed capital for emerging companies in fields of strategic importance, and aims to simplify tax policy.  A coalition of businesses led by AOL founder Steve Case has responded to the Administration’s effort with the private Startup America Partnership.  The Partnership held a meeting in Durham earlier this year. (Here’s a great blog post by Geomagic on the visit.)
• US Small Business Administration: The US Small Business Administrationprovides loans to establish a new business or to assist in the acquisition, operation, or expansion of an existing business. The SBA also provides customized counseling services for businesses through its Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs).
• Small Business Financing: The US Treasury has a variety of programs to help finance small business development.  The Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) will provide up to $30 billion in capital to targeted lenders with assets of less than $10 billion and is structured to incentivize small business lending.  The State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) will spur up to $15 billion in lending by strengthening innovative state programs that support private sector lending to small businesses.
• Skills for America’s Future: President Obama created this initiative to improve industry partnerships with community colleges and ensure that America’s community college students are gaining the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the workforce.
• The National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (NACIE): NACIE has been charged by Secretary Locke to identify and recommend ways we as a nation remain the source and home of paradigm changing innovations and the companies that deploy them. NACIE will offer policy recommendations that facilitate economic growth through entrepreneurial activity, the commercialization of new ideas and technologies into high-growth, innovation-based businesses, and job creation. It also serves as a vehicle for ongoing dialogue with the entrepreneurship community and other stakeholders. (RTP’s Geomagic CEO Ping Fu and UNC-CH’s Chancellor Holden Thorp serve on the Council.)

Biogen Idec Foundation donates $125,000 to build STEM in RTP

MORE THAN 2,400 NORTH CAROLINA STUDENTS TO BENEFIT FROM EDUCATION GRANTS

Among Biogen Idec Foundation's Transformational Grants to Science Education in North Carolina

The Research Triangle Park and its contiguous school districts have firmly committed to advancing science and math education programs in order to prepare the leaders and innovators of the future.

Today, that goal has reached a new milestone. Our own Biogen Idec Foundation has donated $125,000 in its Transformational Grants in Science Education to the Contemporary Science Center. The Center will use the money to construct a STEM-based high school within the confines of the Park proper, a first of its kind.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. The Transformational Grant program was created to develop effective science teachers and to encourage students to pursue science careers.

We at The RTP think this is a fantastic step towards a brighter and more competitive knowledge-based economy, in the Park and in the state. It also comes as a needed boost to a skill field most North Carolina workers are poorly prepared for, said the N.C. Commission on Workforce Development in its 2011—2020 State of the Workforce Report.

According to the report, “[a]t least 42 percent, perhaps many more, of the new jobs being created in North Carolina will require at minimum some post-secondary education, many in STEM disciplines.”

So, if we expect North Carolina to retain its university graduates and continue producing tech-related jobs, now’s an excellent time to kick up funding for STEM and put our money where our laboratory mouth masks are.

The Contemporary Science Center plans to open the school by August 2012. It is slated to enroll 400 students and cultivate a diverse student body from across the region’s youth. It will also offer virtual development programs to distant students and teachers alike.

“We are thrilled to have this chance to invest in the planning and opening of a world-class model of a new way to ‘do school’ for North Carolina students and teachers,” said Pamela Blizzard, executive director of the Contemporary Science Center.

It’s great to see our educational outreach head in this direction. After all, the future of great ideas comes from the rising talent of today.

Read Biogen Idec Foundation’s press release to learn more about the grants.

N.C. Global Schools Network – We have lift-off!

Mission Control: And we have lift-off!

What a thrilling morning! As I watched the space shuttle Endeavour rocketing away from the Kennedy Space Center, successfully completing its final launch, I couldn’t help but think of my tween-aged girls and the future that lies ahead of them.

Their world is filled with the latest in technological advances.

My childhood: a rotary phone and the thrill of having a ‘party-line’

Their childhood: skype, Facebook, facetime, text

My childhood: Brady Bunch and 10 minutes of commercials

Their childhood: DVR episodes of iCarly, no commercials

My childhood: 8-tracks to Sony Walkman, Brother typewriter

Their childhood: iPod, iPads/laptop computers

Just as technology is an integral part of our life, it’s become even more so in the workplace. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills are no longer just “skills” to have. Focusing those academic disciplines through inquiry-based, problem solving and project-based learning is critical in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace.

That said, I mentioned earlier the list of innovative products that my kids use on a daily basis. Whether created here in the U.S. or abroad, the supply chain from development to manufacturing to delivery and promotion is through a webbing of global touches. Just as important in increasing our STEM skills, students today must also continue their focus on communication, collaboration, and information/new media skills. Read more »

Robotics in RTP

Access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is becoming increasingly important for success in the global work place. STEM education and development is a necessary element for knowledge-based environments like The Research Triangle Park (RTP).  As more and more jobs depend on employees with strong STEM skills, today’s students need a way to acquire those skills.  Inquiry-based, experiential programs such as robotics, provide engaging avenues into the STEM world.  NC FIRST Robotics is a leader in providing STEM opportunities for students across North Carolina.

Robotics Demonstration

NC Robotics Information Session

Individuals and their family members with an interest in robotics education, STEM education or participation in robotics programs are invited to attend a family-friendly robotics information and demonstration session on September 10th, 2010 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the RTP Headquarters. NC FIRST Robotics offers robotics programs throughout North Carolina for students between the ages of 6 and 18.  There will be a presentation about the robotics programs and student participants will showcase their robotics work.

Program:

Robotics Competition

* Representatives from NC FIRST Robotics will describe how their organization promotes STEM opportunities forstudents in North Carolina.

* Several student participants will demonstrate the robots they have built.

* “The Hitchhikers,” a high school robotics team based in RTP’s Park Research Center, will also present.

RSVP Online

Please join us for popsicles donated by Locopops, light snacks and informal demonstrations after the program.

About NC FIRST Robotics

We live in an ever increasing technology-driven, global society. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) engages, celebrates and inspires students as they discover that they can be successful in science and technology and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s technological enterprise.

Kids in Robotics Competition

NC FIRST Robotics is working to promote these endeavors here in North Carolina. We are dedicated to exposing the youth in North Carolina to the possibilities that exist in the worlds of Science and Engineering. NC FIRST Robotics engages students in the creative ‘hands-on, minds-on’ process of technological innovation. Our goal is to get youth excited about science and technology, have them attend one of our prestigious institutes of higher learning, and upon graduation, stay in North Carolina for their careers. By doing this, we are able to ‘put North Carolina first’ by allowing our best resource, our youth, contribute to the growth and sustainability of our innovative work force.