Building a culture to grow and expand workplace experiences, the STEM BEST Program encourages teachers and industry professionals to work side-by-side on curriculum and projects that give students actual workplace experience and an understanding of the opportunities and required skills for careers in STEM fields.
Today, with the help of the AIM Institute, nearly 1,000 students at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Council Bluffs learned the fundamentals of computer programming as part of the international Hour of Code initiative.
The medical technology and learning lab is filled with tools that allows anyone to “transform their ideas for improving patient care into tangible prototypes to be tested and reviewed for implementation,” according to a news release.
Planning and implementation are well under way for 12 awarded Computer Science is Elementary schools, a joint project of the Iowa Department of Education and the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. For Kingsley-Pierson Elementary, students are already building confidence in computer science after only a couple months of implementing computer science into the elementary curriculum.
Iowa manufacturers face a tough choice in the coming years: Fail to adapt to new technology and fall behind, or try to keep up and risk a wave of crippling digital attacks. As executives and state officials push toward Industry 4.0 — with factories and machines outfitted with sensors that constantly communicate with one another — cyber security experts worry defenses won't keep up. Companies will be vulnerable to hackers bent on shutting down a business just for the story. Professors at Iowa State University hope to be on the front lines of fortifying the defense.
The state Board of Regents approved the addition of computer science as a coursework category for consideration in the Regent Admission Index when students apply to the three state universities.
DeltaV Code School wants to make it more accessible for adult career switchers to learn how to code. For those currently working a full-time job; however, switching to a full-time bootcamp can be a difficult decision to make. A new nights and weekends program aims to change that.
Doug Jacobson -- already busy with cyberdefense research and helping build Iowa State's new major in cyber security engineering -- has found fun ways to recruit students into cybersecurity studies and careers.
Cedar Valley Makers, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) with the mission to promote collaborative learning, creative design and manufacturing for people of all ages and skill levels. They provide education by giving access to tools, machines and training inside their makerspace and by promoting and planning educational events that can forward scientific thinking, learning and entrepreneurial spirit for all members of their community.
It’s one thing to grow and produce information technology (IT) talent to fill regional workforce needs. Retaining that talent is quite another, especially when employers from bordering states are eager to lure them away.
