{"273171":{"#nid":"273171","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Legacy Project at Georgia Tech Pairs K-12 Grade Students with Graduate Student Researchers to Create \u201cTeachable Moments\u201d","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAccording to the National Science Foundation, the average annual growth rate of careers in science, engineering and technology in the United States is approximately 6.1%. Recent data also shows that college enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career paths is lagging behind job market growth with a predicted gap of 60% between STEM based graduates and STEM job availability by 2018. The economic health of the United States is directly related to its ability to stay at the forefront of innovation in these increasingly important employment fields. The most effective way to foster the future workforce is to encourage interest in STEM subjects while students are young.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo actively engage K-12 grade students in STEM, a new campaign is being launched at the Georgia Institute of Technology that allows students to go online and fund, as well as actively participate in, a laboratory based graduate student research project being conducted in the cleanroom space housed at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech. The \u201cTeachable Moments\u201d crowd-funding project is the brainchild of James Meindl, Professor Emeritus in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeindl has always looked to the future in both electronics, and to the future workforce of science and engineering. Meindl began a career in engineering while working for the U.S. Army in what was at the time, the new field of microelectronics. In his post-military career, Meindl devoted his life to developing the future of microelectronics through the academic guidance of graduate students at Stanford University; The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was both the director of the Microelectronics Research Center and the founding director of the Nanotechnology Research Center.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGiven the path his life work has taken, and the love of teaching that kept him in academia, it is not surprising that Meindl\u2019s legacy project would be student- and learning-focused. Meindl, in concert with several other Georgia Tech-based centers and organizations, is launching the collaborative educational outreach program for graduate students conducting microelectronics- and nanotechnology-related research. The program is designed to allow graduate students the chance to develop a demonstration around their research to be presented to K-12 students to encourage an interest in STEM education and to engage the future workforce in high technology research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe age range targeted is directly related to the future forecasting that Meindl so loves. In an overview interview about the project, Meindl stated that given the predicted growth of the science and engineering workforce, there is an immense need to drive younger students to understand and develop an interest in these critical fields. The project also serves to teach graduate students ways to engage the public in their field and their particular research interests and to give them and their work public exposure to which they might not otherwise have access.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo fund the projects, $1,000 stipends have been created with cost share commitments from Meindl, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the ACE\/Sloan Legacy Project, and the Vice President of Institute Diversity. To engage the public in sponsoring these activities, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) crowd funding website has set aside space where the public can contribute funds to any of 20 graduate student projects. Donors get to be involved with desired \u201cTeachable Moments\u201d in various ways, ranging from Skype time with the researcher to research lab tours. Graduate students will receive the stipend to create a demonstration, develop professional outreach training, and gain public exposure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInvitations to pitch demonstrations for funding in the \u201cTeachable Moments\u201d campaign will be sent to graduate students and advisors on February 3, 2014. To find out more information on how to engage with a student researcher and fund a demonstration visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/starter.gatech.edu\/index.php\/project\/161\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/starter.gatech.edu\/index.php\/project\/161\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u201cTeachable Moments\u201d is an ACE\/Sloan legacy project with matching funding provided by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology \u2013and support from the Vice President of Institute Diversity.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETo actively engage K-12 grade students in STEM, a new campaign is being launched at the Georgia Institute of Technology that allows students to go online and fund, as well as actively participate in, a laboratory based graduate student research project being conducted in the cleanroom space housed at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2014-02-04 09:08:36","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:47","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-02-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-02-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"273161":{"id":"273161","type":"image","title":"Marcus Cleanroom Fl1","body":null,"created":"1449244112","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:48:32","changed":"1475894964","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:24","alt":"Marcus Cleanroom Fl1","file":{"fid":"198688","name":"labslickimg5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/labslickimg5_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/labslickimg5_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1403936,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/labslickimg5_0.jpg?itok=mUlCGMBV"}}},"media_ids":["273161"],"groups":[{"id":"197261","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"147","name":"Military Technology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"85591","name":"Graduate Student Contest"},{"id":"12701","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"85601","name":"public engagement in research"},{"id":"167487","name":"STEM education"},{"id":"169628","name":"Stipend"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"},{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EContest Contact; diana.palma@ien.gatech.edu\u0026nbsp; \uff0d \u0026nbsp; 404.894.1541\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAuthor; \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:christa.ernst@ien.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Echrista.ernst@ien.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["diana.palma@ien.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}