On March 11, Georgia Tech’s Exhibition Hall will welcome hundreds of young inventors from across the state, who will present their designs for judging and compete for a slot at the RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals in June. The 12th annual Georgia Tech K-12 InVenture Prize State Finals competition will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The press is welcome to attend and interview students, teachers, and judges starting at 1:30 p.m. An awards ceremony will take place at 4 p.m., where student inventors will be singled out for honors in various categories.

Some of the student inventions in this year’s competition include:

• a project that turns kudzu vine into a renewable fuel source;
• a language translator bracelet;
• Neuro Note, an early dementia prediction app;
• a 3D-printed prosthetic leg;
• Chicken Poop Remover, an innovative tool for cleaning chicken coops; and
• an app to track stray pets on the loose.

The event is a great opportunity to capture photos and video of students presenting their inventions and explaining their ideas to a panel of judges.

“As always, State Finals will be an amazing opportunity to see young student inventors and entrepreneurs,” said Danyelle Larkin, director of K-12 InVenture Prize. “We see our students working on projects that address some of the most important issues facing society. We have lots of returning students who keep refining their inventions with more and more expertise and advanced knowledge of materials and chemical processes. We are seeing younger and younger students with great ideas of their own, trying to solve the problems they see in their lives. This is truly such an amazing celebration with our students, their teachers, families, and friends.”

For more information, please contact Randy Trammell at rtrammell8@gatech.edu.

Moderator Lizanne DeStefano, executive director of the College’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), reflected on the meaningful exchange between panelists.

“We had tried to do outreach in rural districts before. I’ve been at Georgia Tech for 10 years, and ever since I arrived, we’ve been talking about upgrading our outreach to rural districts—but there are many barriers to that, such as distance, time, and resources,” she said. “This opportunity provided excellent access because it wasn’t just driving to the district for a day and having a booth and talking to kids about coming to Georgia Tech. It was really partnering with those districts around instructional issues.”

The panel featured Georgia state representative Matt Dubnik and Georgia Tech representatives Leigh McCook, STEM @GTRI; Bert Reeves, Institute Relations; Norman “Storm” Robinson III, CEISMC; and Rick Clark, Strategic Student Access.

The idea behind the initiative traces back to early 2022 when Dubnik and fellow legislator Todd Jones approached Georgia Tech with a bold idea: to expand access to computer science education in rural school districts through a strategic partnership, using technology and experiential learning.

As DeStefano explained during the panel, “It is very difficult to hire certified computer science teachers in rural districts. It's very hard to hire them across the state, but rural districts in particular are challenged, and so rural students have less access to high-quality computer science education than in other parts of the state.”

With funding from the state legislature, a collaborative effort between CEISMC and STEM@GTRI, the K-12 outreach arm of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, was born. The pilot program took place that summer with eight school districts and has grown to more than 45 school districts as of this fall.

A foundational feature of the program is the delivery of computer science modules, developed and taught by the CEISMC and GTRI teams, through a hybrid co-teaching model. Each module begins with a week of real-time, online instruction led by the teams in partnership with in-person teachers. The second week shifts to teacher-led, problem-based learning, allowing students to apply concepts through independent projects, with flexibility in pacing and project design to meet classroom needs.

“Our modules that we started with in our pilot phase are constantly changing. We’re getting feedback, advice, and ideas—and educators are asking for more. So, we started with four modules, and now we’re at ten,” said McCook, director of STEM@GTRI. “They’re coming to us and saying, ‘We want to do more in AI or cybersecurity.’”

That kind of teacher input has also shaped the broader goals of the initiative. A professional learning community has been set up to adapt to educators’ needs and foster collaboration across schools, with veteran teachers often serving as mentors for newer participants.

“The professional learning experiences are tailored to the districts and the teachers’ needs,” said Robinson, CEISMC’s associate director of school and community engagement. “We’re not just putting something on—we’re asking them, ‘Where do you see yourself? Where do you want to grow as an educator?’ and involving them in their own journey.”

For example, a new area of focus this year is applying computer science and artificial intelligence to agriculture, including farming. Nineteen school districts have been provided with FarmBots, which are open-source, automated farming systems that integrate coding, robotics, and data science, and can monitor variables such as soil moisture and temperature.

A FarmBot was recently installed in Georgia Tech’s community garden to serve as a hands-on testing site for designing classroom-ready learning experiences. Robinson is currently traveling to each school to ensure the FarmBots are properly installed as a curriculum for precision farming is being developed. Precision farming is a method that uses technology and data to enhance and improve agricultural practices.

Now in its fourth year, the Rural Computer Science Initiative is expanding and making strides, having reached more than 10,000 students in over 40 schools and garnering continued support from the state legislature.

“It was great to see such a powerful example of the Georgia legislature partnering with an institution of higher education in the service of rural communities,” DeStefano said. “Other states are interested in replicating our model.”

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

This fall, five new counties—Baldwin, Coffee, Evans, Hart, and Monroe—joined the initiative, bringing the total to 45 participating districts, with plans to add more districts in the spring. Over 70 teachers have engaged with the initiative through professional development offered at the beginning of each semester and co-teaching opportunities held throughout the year through a hybrid model. Georgia Tech faculty members lead instruction online in partnership with in-person classroom teachers across the state.

“We’re seeing real momentum in our partner schools—computer science curricula are evolving, career pathways are clearly laid out for both teachers and students, and applications to computer science programs, including Georgia Tech, are on the rise,” said CEISMC Executive Director Lizanne DeStefano. “Teachers are advancing more quickly, and our professional development offerings now include cutting-edge topics like artificial intelligence in agriculture and healthcare, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle development to meet local needs.”

For veteran educators such as Jansen Haight, the Rural Computer Science Initiative has shaped his pedagogical approach and strengthened his commitment to making computer science content accessible to all students. He joined the program during its second year when he was a newly minted computer science teacher at Lumpkin County High School. “At that time, I only taught Introduction to Software Technology and Computer Science Principles,” he said. “It was incredibly valuable to collaborate with other teachers like me, to share ideas, and to see how to grow my program.”

Haight, now in his third year with the Rural Computer Science Initiative and teaching computer science full-time, took advantage of every opportunity available to him, including external resources like the GenCyber AGENT Initiative at the University of North Georgia. His involvement with the professional development program for middle and high school educators—focused on cybersecurity and computer science instruction —inspired his next steps.

Haight explained that the curriculum developers in the Rural Computer Science Initiative recognized the absence of a structured cybersecurity unit. So, in his second year, he wrote a grant and collaborated with Bryson Payne, a cybersecurity professor and researcher at the University of North Georgia, to develop one. They adapted the unit this past summer so it could run completely offline for school security purposes and be more accessible to first-year students.

“Our program has expanded from a single introductory class to a full pathway, and I’ve seen more students express interest in computer science careers — particularly in cybersecurity,” Haight said. “The hands-on nature of the Raspberry Pi devices (programmable microcontrollers) and open-source tools has given students a sense of real-world application that motivates them to pursue further study.”

A new area of focus this year is applying computer science and artificial intelligence to agriculture, including farming. Several school districts have been provided with FarmBots, including Twiggs County, which has been a partner since the initiative’s pilot year. A FarmBot is an open-source, automated farming system that integrates coding, robotics, and data science, and can monitor variables such as soil moisture and temperature. One such system was installed in Georgia Tech’s community garden to serve as a test bed for designing the related learning experiences and supporting partner schools in setting up their devices.

T.S. Whitmore, a new computer science teacher for both the middle and high schools in Twiggs County, explained that the resources provided by the Rural Computer Science Initiative are helping him plan lessons across grade levels. His middle schoolers will be engaged with the cybersecurity unit, while most of the high schoolers have volunteered to assist with the FarmBot project.

“I learned so much in so little time. I have so much to learn, but I've never been more excited,” he said. “I am learning to think outside of the box and find different ways to connect new learning to things previously learned. I expect to be more creative in my lesson planning.”

Newcomer Ella Newsome is also bringing excitement and energy to Oglethorpe County High School as she begins both her teaching career and her participation in the Rural Computer Science Initiative. A recent mathematics graduate from the University of Georgia, she now teaches 10th grade geometry and computer science for grades 9-12.

“It has become very clear that the other teachers in the community as well as the Georgia Tech staff can and want to help me,” Newsome said of her early involvement with the initiative. “They want to see my students succeed and are willing to put much time and effort towards that goal.  I feel empowered, supported, and motivated to engage my students with computer science!”

“It's so nice to hear these stories and the enthusiasm about the project as we lift our heads up from the day-to-day implementation and planning details, especially as we have kicked off the new school year with even more districts and schools,” said STEM@GTRI Director Leigh McCook. “It’s a great reminder of what is happening at the school, teacher, and student level as a result of the opportunities this project—and the people behind it—bring.”

In fact, the Rural Computer Science Initiative will be featured at the inaugural Georgia Tech Lifetime Learning Symposium on October 6, hosted by the College of Lifetime Learning of which CEISMC is a foundational unit. The K-12 education community is invited to tune in to the free live stream after 3 p.m., using this link: https://mediaspace.gatech.edu/media/1_hzdv0u71, to view Dean William Gaudelli’s keynote address, followed by a panel discussion of the initiative. Registration is not required

“The Rural Computer Science collaboration between CEISMC and STEM@GTRI is an important and valued connection between the Institute and the state of Georgia,” Gaudelli said, reflecting on the initiative’s growing impact and its role in advancing STEM education statewide. “Teachers and administrators coming together to learn at the cutting edge of STEM pedagogy is a great example of what lifetime learning is all about. Georgia Tech expertise, coupled with a forum for knowledge creation and teacher growth, is a powerful combination. I am excited to see what comes next in this significant area of work at Georgia Tech.”   

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

Georgia Tech researchers Meltem Alemdar and Heidi Turcotte from the College of Lifetime Learning, along with Emily Weigel from the College of Sciences, have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (Award #2345019). They will develop and implement a university-based summer program called Research Experiences for Pre-Service Teachers (REPST), recruiting participants from partner institutions Clayton State University and Mercer University.  

The press is welcome to attend and interview students, teachers, and judges starting at 2:30 p.m. An awards ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. where student inventors will be singled out for honors in various categories. 

Some of the student inventions in this year’s competition include: 

• The Corder, a guitar-like instrument that makes playing easy;
• The Migraine Exterminator, which works to significantly reduce migraine headaches;
• FieldMate, an app that can help farmers potentially double crop production;  
• TremorTech, which uses a proprietary shock absorber system to reduce the debilitating effects of Parkinson's Disease tremors;
• and a VR-powered car driving simulator for new drivers.

This year’s K-12 InVenture Prize State Finals will also feature a lively, fun panel discussion with student inventors led by Georgia Public Broadcasting’s award-winning producer Ashley Mengwasser, host of the online video series “Tiny Mic: Big Designs,” which profiles student inventors, their inventions and their inspirations. The event is a great opportunity to capture photos and video of students presenting their inventions and explaining their ideas to a panel of judges.

“It is always amazing to see all of the students and their inventions at State Finals,” said Danyelle Larkin, director of K-12 InVenture Prize, which is housed in Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). “They bring so many cool ideas and so many cool inventions. Each student project starts with a question: How can I make the world a better place? Their designs are the answer to that question. We see our students working on projects in areas like clean water, clean air, safety issues, health and medical devices, games, musical instruments, pet care ... the list goes on and on. And we see lots of our students using robotics and programming and designing apps. It’s really amazing to see their creativity on display. This is truly such a great celebration with our students, their teachers, families and friends.”

For more info, please contact Randy Trammell at rtrammell8@gatech.edu.  

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

Students attended various STEM demonstrations and interactive sessions throughout the day, presented by Georgia Tech, Emory University, Georgia College & State University, Georgia State University, and Kennesaw State University. There was also an undergraduate admission information session by Georgia Tech and a panel discussion by Kennesaw State’s First-Gen Owls student organization. 

“The last in-person Latino College and STEM Fair was held in spring 2019 before the pandemic caused us to move to a virtual format the last few years,” explained GoSTEM Co-Program Manager Michael Turner. “The team determined that bringing it back in person this fall was well-timed, aligning perfectly with the academic calendar, college application deadlines, and Hispanic Heritage Month. This event provides a valuable opportunity for students to explore their options and connect with mentors in the STEM fields.” 

This event has been a major component of the GoSTEM program since the beginning, having become a staple of the Atlanta Science Festival in 2014. The team aimed to restart on a smaller scale, focusing on a few select schools that had either participated in other GoSTEM programs or were relatively new to the initiative. Previous iterations of the event were larger and more public-facing, attracting Latino students and their families from across Georgia. 

“Our team is very aware of the role and importance of including the family, which may be explored in the future,” said Jorge Hernandez Cervantes, who serves as the other GoSTEM co-program manager. “For the pilot run, we wanted to see how everything would work logistically, especially in terms of event space, but also to ensure that as many students as possible experienced the Latino College and STEM Fair in person, even if their parents couldn’t join this time.”

As the student programming focus was the main objective for bringing the event back to campus, educational outreach coordinators Ana Garcia Isol and Ben Franco collaborated on the planning and logistics of the event to ensure this goal was fulfilled. They were past GoSTEM participants and CEISMC student employees while they pursued their STEM degrees at Georgia State University. 

“We wanted the students to experience a different type of opportunity where they felt welcomed and comfortable engaging in STEM activities. Many students do not think they’re smart enough or don’t belong in the STEM classroom,” Garcia Isol said. “By creating a space with carefully curated programs that explore the numerous possibilities of STEM, we are showing these students the attainable pathways to STEM majors and careers.”

“Events like the Latino College and STEM Fair are crucial for exposing students, especially from underfunded schools to new opportunities. Without that exposure, they might not realize their full potential,” added Franco. “These events spark interest, encourage discussions, and help students connect with like-minded peers as they explore their career and college paths.”  

For example, Erin Luna, a sixth-grade teacher at GoSTEM’s longtime partner Lilburn Middle School, observed the students’ enthusiasm and excitement about the experience. She described one student who probably would not have asked her teacher for a permission slip but decided to do so after running into Luna on her way to make more copies. 

“I encouraged the student to sign up when she asked me about the event,” explained Luna. “She attended and later thanked me at lunch, saying ‘I want to go to college here.’ Knowing she doesn’t like her science class and would be the first in her family to attend college, I realized that inspiring even one student makes it all worthwhile. The future belongs to those who dare to dream beyond boundaries.” 

School counselor Lisandra Latorre echoed the same sentiments about the impact of the campus event on her students from Chamblee High School, a first-time partner with GoSTEM. She said that the students asked many questions and interreacted with presenters, with some of her very limited English proficient students treated to a presentation in Spanish, which made them feel even more included. 

“The key takeaway was that all Latino students can attend college, even Georgia Tech,” Latorre explained. “Latino students need events and programs like these to see role models who started out maybe LEP (Limited English Proficient) just like them, attending colleges, involved and leading in STEM fields they think are out of reach.”

Participants from Sequoyah Middle School in Doraville, Sweetwater Middle School in Lawrenceville, Berkmar High School in Lilburn, and Cross Keys High School in Brookhaven were also in attendance.  

On the presenter side, it was a homecoming of sorts for Georgia State University’s Bio-Bus Program, a mobile science outreach service for K-12 students and their families and teachers. Director Michelle Ventura Ezeoke explained that the Bio-Bus Program first collaborated almost a decade ago with GoSTEM when the team co-hosted a teacher professional development event with the Latin American Association addressing how to bridge the STEM educational gap for Georgia’s K-12 Latino students. 

“As a first-generation Latina and first-generation college graduate, I have dedicated my work to inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals by dispelling misconceptions regarding STEM identity,” Ventura Ezeoke said.  “Programs like GoSTEM are essential because they provide an opportunity and space for K-12 students to be inspired to persist in STEM. Moreover, they enable the staff to showcase themselves as STEM professionals while serving their communities.” 

Among the other presenters, many of whom also participate in the Atlanta Science Festival, included: 

• Georgia Tech: Astronomy Club, BME HealthReach, Frugal Science Academy
• Kennesaw State University: ColorStack KSU
• Emory University: ChEmory
• Georgia College & State University: Magic of Chemistry

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

With strengths in Input and Analysis, Cappelli loves discovering new information and often goes “down the rabbit hole” with research. As an Achiever and an Arranger, Alemdar enjoys synthesizing data and getting things done. With their combined strengths they are detail-oriented while also focused on the big picture, and together they catch things the other has missed. Alemdar explains, “With different strengths, people don’t have to be the same, and they don’t have to do everything.” For this reason, they are enthusiastic about the benefits of CliftonStrengths for team dynamics. As Cappelli puts it, “the StrengthsFinder helps avoid and mitigate conflict, because you better understand others, which creates a better team environment.” By appreciating each other’s strengths, team members collaborate instead of competing.

Alemdar and Cappelli are passionate about the benefits of diverse interdisciplinary research teams. “Diverse teams lead to different perspectives,” Cappelli remarks. “Interdisciplinary research moves the field forward and gets beyond narrow perspectives – creating new knowledge that’s not siloed.” Race and gender diversity as well as disciplinary diversity, Alemdar adds, are key to driving innovation in collaborative research: “It’s a modern way of problem-solving.”

For such teams to be effective, thoughtful cross-disciplinary communication is essential – translating unfamiliar terms, asking questions, and actively listening. Cappelli draws upon his Individualization Strength to understand other people’s points of view, and Alemdar draws upon her Communication Strength to synthesize data for researchers across the social sciences and hard sciences. Cappelli’s experiences collaborating with assessment teams in graduate school showed him that “communicating about projects is vital to success on cross-disciplinary teams” because there are so many “different perspectives with different lingo.” For example, he elaborates, “the term ‘assessment’ means something different across fields. In Education, it means testing, whereas, in another field, it might mean evaluating.” To avoid communication pitfalls with key concepts lost in translation, he says, “you need to learn how to talk to someone and ask the right questions.” Alemdar agrees: “Listening leads to better outcomes.”

In addition to their research partnership, Alemdar and Cappelli work in multiple teams on a daily basis. As the Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at the Georgia Institue of Technology Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), Alemdar supervises collaborative teams doing data analysis. As a Research Associate at CEISMC as well as a doctoral student in Educational Policy Studies, Cappelli does almost all of his assessment work with teams of cross-disciplinary evaluators. And in their roles doing assessment work (Alemdar as co-PI and Cappelli as a team member) for the NSF-IGE grant-funded project “Integrating Team Science into the STEM Graduate Training Experience,” they collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team of researchers to innovate team science training for graduate students.

With their cutting-edge research in curricular assessment, Alemdar and Cappelli not only bring valuable leadership to the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative but also model harmonious teamwork dynamic in action.

As Alemdar puts it, “Collaboration is a 21st-century skill – you have to collaborate!”

Cappelli agrees: “Practice what you preach – we’re directly using the skills we’re teaching.”

Written By: Effective Team Dynamics (ETD)

This is the first article in a two-part series featuring Meltem Alemdar and Christopher Cappelli. The next post will cover their assessment work on the NSF-IGE grant-funded project Integrating Team Science into the STEM Graduate Training Experience.

The Effective Team Dynamics (ETD) initiative at Georgia Tech was developed with the intention of reshaping team experiences in a positive way through research-driven methods and reflective evaluations of thought and behavior patterns.

The College of Lifetime Learning at Georgia Tech is receiving support from Google.org to launch a new online teacher training program in computer science that will be made available across the United States. The curriculum for the pilot program will build on the Student-Centered Computing Course - AP Computer Science Principles developed by the college’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Georgia Tech Professional Education, another unit within the college, is a partner in the project, coordinating the online teacher professional development workshops. The support from Google.org will also fund a hybrid component specifically for Georgia teachers. 

The event is the first for the newly established Southwest Georgia regional FIRST LEGO League Challenge. Georgia Tech is the affiliate partner for FIRST LEGO League Challenge with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) facilitating the program for the state of Georgia. FIRST LEGO League introduces STEM learning to children ages 4-16 through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided global robotics program using LEGO technology, helping today’s students, families, and educators build a better future together.

Participating workshop teachers focused on building student STEM skills in preparation for participating in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge competition. The workshop focused on teaching students coding and other current STEM skills needed to participate in the competition as well as launch students into high-tech careers in their communities.

“With so many manufacturers and high-tech opportunities opening in Southwest Georgia, it’s important to have students engaging now in building the skills they will need to get those good, high-paying industry jobs in the near future,” said Danyelle Larkin, director of K-12 InVenture Prize. “We see this program as an anchor for the region, establishing a STEM school-to-manufacturing pathway that will strengthen the communities in this part of the state. So, yes, this is a robotics competition, but it is really more than that. It’s something that has the potential to uplift entire communities. And that is pretty cool.”

The inaugural FIRST LEGO League Challenge will be held on December 14 at Southern Regional Technical College in Thomasville.

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

Currently in 5th grade, the team invented Grocery Eyes during their 4th grade year, an app that makes shopping for food easier for visually-impaired people. The team won the Diversity and Inclusion Award at the K-12 InVenture Prize State Finals in March. In June, they also won the Inclusion Award and a prize of $1,000 each at the RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals competition in Michigan. In July they competed in the RTX Americas Invention Convention. 

“It was an honor to be a part of Anna and Nellie's celebration and present them with a Resolution from the state,” said Representative New. “We must actively encourage and highlight the positive achievements of our youth, especially when they are creating a brighter tomorrow for everyone. Their accomplishments are transformative, impacting the lives of many underserved individuals, and it was my pleasure to be a small part of their momentous day.”

K-12 InVenture Prize Founding Director Roxanne Moore also spoke at the event about the importance of invention education in schools to broaden students’ opportunities. “I want to thank the teachers, administrators, and parents who supported these students on their journey—sometimes, inventing can be quite messy,” said Moore.  She went on to address Kolodner and Borsh, “Your ideas are valuable. Thank you for dreaming of a brighter future for everyone and taking steps to make that vision a reality.” 

The K-12 InVenture Prize, based in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), challenges kindergarten through high school students to identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process.  

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum and competition, please visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu or https://www.k12inventure.org. 

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications 

“In the same way that our students keep working to refine and improve their inventions, we have reimagined our professional development for this year, and we have made improvements that our teachers really seemed to like,” said K-12 InVenture Prize Director Danyelle Larkin with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). “One of the biggest shifts was to embrace the idea of peer learning and putting our tried and true, tested teachers in charge. They really stepped up and showed their mastery of this curriculum and were able to connect to their fellow teachers in a very meaningful way.”

Workshops for middle school and high school teachers were held June10-11 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and were led by longtime teacher facilitators Heather Bell and Michelle Crose. Participating teachers took a deep dive into the innovation process with hands-on IronCAD instruction and received major inspiration from touring The Hive: Interdisciplinary Makerspace at Georgia Tech, a 5,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art accessible engineering creation studio.

Workshops for elementary school teachers were held June 17-18 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and were led by veteran K-12 InVenture Prize teachers Julia Varnedoe and Nancy Ernstes. Highlights included a hands-on paper-making workshop with artist/educator Jaz McBride from the Cali Rose Co. 

K-12 InVenture Prize also held teacher workshops in Southwest Georgia at Southern Regional Technical College on June 24– 25, which were also led by Michelle Crose. And in Savannah, K-12 Inventure Prize teacher training workshops were held July 17-18 and were led by K-12 InVenture Prize teacher Austin Russell. All of the workshops were open to past, current, and new K-12 educators. Key topics included engaging in the innovation process; learning how the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum aligns with Georgia standards; and building teacher innovation networks.

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

Invention Convention U.S. Nationals is a unique multi-day experience for students to present their inventions to educational and industry expert judges as well as other student inventors across the country. Hosted at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Invention Convention U.S. Nationals invites student inventors to compete at the national level. An affiliate of Invention Convention Worldwide, K-12 InVenture Prize reserves a number of spots to invite select student teams from State Finals to represent Georgia at the U.S. Nationals competition. Qualifying inventions are eligible for industry awards, patent application awards, cash prizes, and scholarships.

“We are so proud of our student inventors who have worked so hard, with the invaluable help of their STEM teachers, to move up and compete on the national stage representing their home state,” said Danyelle Larkin, director of the K-12 InVenture Prize program. “Some members of our team will be travelling to the competition in Dearborn to cheer on our students who are simply amazing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for student inventors to truly discover their potential as they continue to refine their inventions and presentations. Many of our students go onto apply for patents and develop their ideas into working businesses.”

The teams representing Georgia for this year’s competition are:

• Allergen Avengers, MABRY MIDDLE SCHOOL: Uses a vacuum to detect allergens in food.
• Recycling Pro, MABRY MIDDLE SCHOOL: An app that helps reduce plastic pollution and encourages recycling.
• Micro-Fill, SAWNEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A drain storage device that removes microplastics from water.
• Cool Dog Collar, CROSS CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Helps keep dogs cool in the summer.
• ECO Ball, WEST SIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A recycling game.
• Grocery Eyes: SAM D. PANTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL An app that helps sight-impaired people navigate the grocery store and organize shopping.
• Biomass Battery, MCINTOSH HIGH SCHOOL: A sustainable battery made from tea.
• H2Whoa, MILDRED B. POOLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A portable water filtration system.
• The Corder, KENNESAW MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL: A guitar-like instrument that makes playing fun and easy without music theory.
• BioGrow, NORTHGATE HIGH SCHOOL: A bio-fungicide that organically treats turfgrass.
• MagKnight, EFFINGHAM COLLEGE & CAREER ACADEMY: Detects hidden magnets and alerts users when they are too close.
• Firepron, SOPE CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: An apron that extinguishes small house fires.

The K-12 InVenture Prize, based in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), challenges kindergarten through high school students to identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process.

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum and competition, please visit k12inventure.gatech.edu or www.k12inventure.org.

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

The Douglasville, Georgia, native got her first sewing machine when she was 9, taking inspiration from her seamstress grandmother. Despite sewing through her finger the first time she used the machine, Curtis kept at it.  

"I am not someone who gives up or quits. If you sew through your finger once, that doesn't mean you'll do it again. Everything, whether it's a hobby or starting a new project, comes with a learning curve, and if I start something, I'm going to finish it," she said.   

Around the time she started sewing, Curtis set foot on the Georgia Tech campus for the first time. Attending CEISMC events and K.I.D.S Club events, she remembers how expansive the 400-acre campus felt as a child. Over time, it became familiar as she returned often with her dad, who was earning a master's degree in civil engineering.   

"When we were on campus with him, he would study in front of the same big tree on Tech Green. While he studied, I would do my homework, and that spot became one of my favorite study spots on campus," she said.   

On one of her many weekend trips to campus as a high school student, she attended a biomedical engineering student panel and felt an instant connection to the program.   

"As a high school sophomore, I listened to the panel talk about their experiences, what it meant to be in BME, and everything they do at Georgia Tech, and that was a primary reason why I gravitated toward it. I felt that it fit with who I was as a person, and in hindsight, getting my education here allowed me to pursue my passions," Curtis, a John Lewis Leadership Fellow, said.  

After graduating, she will join Owens & Minor as an R&D product engineer focusing on medical apparel, combining her interests in sewing and helping others. Owens & Minor was the primary sponsor of Curtis' capstone project, in which her team created a more inclusive cleaning coverall.   

"Unfortunately, the hoods currently used in cleaning coveralls don't accommodate the fact that people have heads and that those heads have hair. That was a glaring complaint we heard, especially from women who wear their hair in puffs or may have braids. Our coverall resolves that issue with an inclusive hood that covers your hair, keeps everything nice and sterile while you're working, and eliminates waste," she explained.  

From the Flowers Invention Studio to the Salsa Club, Curtis will miss plenty of aspects of campus life, including one that she knows goes against the norm for most college students.   

"I'm surprisingly going to miss the atmosphere and the vibes around final exams when everybody's super stressed and scrambling, and you see everyone cramming in the Library," she said.  

When she crosses the Commencement stage, Curtis will be thinking of all those who helped her get to this point — her family, the Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers, the Black Women’s Support Group, the Office of Minority Educational Development, and BME faculty members including James Blumling, Swati Gupta, Melissa Kemp, S. Balakrishna Pai, and Ankur Singh.  

In this year’s competition,108 student teams all advanced from the online qualifier and regional qualifying events of the STEM invention/entrepreneurship program. The students were joined by family, friends, teachers, as well as Georgia Tech students, staff and faculty and community partners, many of whom worked as volunteer judges or helped with registration or other event duties. More than 30 student inventors were honored at the ceremony with awards. Thirty-two winners, singled out by contest judges, will advance to the next round of the competition, Invention Convention U.S. Nationals at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan June 5-7.

The K-12 InVenture Prize, based in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), challenges kindergarten through high school students to identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process.

“We worked hard to make sure that this year’s State Finals event was very special because we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of our program,” said Danyelle Larkin, who was named as the new director of the K-12 InVenture Prize program at the ceremony. “There were so many amazing highlights and so much joy and positivity. It was truly touching.”

“We really saw how this work has continued to develop and mature over the years,” she explained. “Our panel discussion on patents included a student inventor/entrepreneur who is now enrolled as a college student at Tech as well as two high school student inventors who are successfully building a business around a school safety invention which they refined in our competition.”

“We were also so happy to be able to shine the spotlight on the truly incredible teachers who have worked as our partners over this last ‘Decade of Discovery.’ Our teachers make this program possible, so we created a new award to bring attention to their essential contributions,” Larkin added. “We are also seeing some of our students year after year, refining and redesigning, continuing to make improvements to their inventions, working hard to push things forward. And, really, that’s what this is all about.”

At the ceremony, each first-place team received a patent search or patent filing offered by longtime supporters, the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance (GIPA). Cameron Schriner, an engineer with local software company IronCAD, also presented at the event.

Award-winning student projects included:

• A prototyped water testing machine that provides real-time, accurate data on water safety conditions;
• A battery constructed in part from sustainable carbon derived from tea leaves;
• A game that encourages recycling;
• An apron that puts out small house fires;
• A collar that helps keep dogs cool in sweltering summer weather;
• A drain storage device that removes microplastics from water;
• A three-string guitar-like instrument that simplifies playing with an automated chord system;
• A grocery-shopping app for sight-impaired people;
• A device that uses molecularly imprinted polymers to detect allergens in food; and
• An A.I.-powered research tool that transforms multiple web searches into organized, shareable notes.

In addition to the awards ceremony, students participated in hands-on STEM activities and visited the Paper and Clay craft studio for a wide variety of fun, creative projects. The day of events concluded with the annual InVenture Prize at Georgia Tech competition at the Ferst Center for the Arts that aired live on Georgia Public Broadcasting and online. Nicknamed "American Idol for Nerds," the Emmy Award-winning InVenture Prize at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary innovation competition open to all Tech undergraduate students.

To see a full list of winners and their projects, please visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu/competition2024.

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum and competition, please visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu or https://www.k12inventure.org.

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

Some of the student inventions included: an app that matches discriminated dog breeds with their perfect human match; a solar-powered golf cart; a digital medical device that helps measure and prevent brain injuries from concussions; and an app designed to make studying more efficient for students.

The event took place at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) in Thomasville. Community leaders from local businesses judged the projects and presented awards.

“Through the Georgia AIM grant, we have been able to expand innovation, AI, and manufacturing education to more students in Southwest Georgia,” said Danyelle Larkin, educational outreach manager with Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing. “This grant continues to provide us with opportunities to highlight current and future career pathways within Thomasville and other Southwest Georgia communities. Next year, we plan to host more students as we continue to expand our work in rural communities through Georgia AIM.

The Georgia AIM project is supported by a $65 million grant Georgia Tech received in September 2022 from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The goals of the project are to support a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach. The grant is also designed to increase job and wage opportunities in distressed and rural communities and among historically underrepresented populations such as rural residents, women, veterans, people of color and members of the workforce without a college degree.

“We are partnering with local school systems in rural Georgia to foster innovative thinking in students with the K12 InVenture Prize competition, preparing them for their future careers,” said Willie Allen, SRTC’s director of innovation. “Events like this have the potential to strengthen our community here in Thomasville in both the short and long term. Our students are learning high-tech skills that will help them throughout their lives. This is a process of enriching our community, one student at a time.”

Community organizer Katie Chastain with Tisk/Task in Thomasville said that the event “has this magical element because you combine all the right elements that spark inventions — young people eager to solve real problems, industry experts willing to share their expertise, and a framework for continual improvement. It couldn't be done without the strong partnership between our local schools, our business community, Southern Regional Technical College and Georgia Tech.”

The following winners from the South Georgia Innovation Day qualifier are invited to participate in the K-12 InVenture Prize State Finals competition at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on March 13.

Elementary School Division Winners

First Place: Splash Guard Abigail Bone, Ellie Butler, Katie Bruce

Second Place: Cool Dog Collar Ivey Clapper, Isla Farlow

Third Place: Double Band Perry Chastain, Jillian Blodgett, Alice Fielding

Middle School Division Winners

First Place: See the Future Janiya Ivey

Second Place: Sol-Gear Emma Brannen

Third Place: Plug in Master Jace Johnson and Jayda Mathis

High School Division Winners

First Place: Know Fur-Buddy Tatiana Everhart

Second Place: Study Buddy Martha Edwards, Ella Rodd

Third Place: Squmfort Michael “Connor” Pringle

“Innovation Day lets kids share their great ideas with leaders in our community,” Chastain said. “We love celebrating the work they put into their innovations. The creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking — those are the four C's we want to see in our future workforce — and we saw it all at Innovation Day!

Educators or afterschool program providers interested in participating in South Georgia Innovation Day 2025, can contact Katie Chastain at katie@tisktask.org.

For more information on K-12 InVenture Prize State Finals, click here.

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize competition, click here.

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

K-12 InVenture Prize is an invention and entrepreneurship program that challenges students to identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process.

Judges provide critical feedback to student teams as they compete amongst their peers. The 2024 competition will include elementary, middle, and high school students, and the winners of each division will be eligible to compete at the annual National Invention Convention.

Judges for in-person State Finals on March 13 can sign up here: https://b.gatech.edu/3uxFZJA

If you need more information, please email Randy Trammell at rtrammell8@gatech.edu.

--Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications 

K-12 InVenture Prize is an invention and entrepreneurship program and competition in which students identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process. Competition judges provide critical feedback to student teams as they compete in a series of qualifying events amongst their peers and qualify for a spot at State Finals.  

"Our volunteer judges make a huge impact on this program and in the lives of young inventors and entrepreneurs across the state,” said Danyelle Larkin, Educational Outreach Manager with K-12 InVenture Prize/CEISMC. “By taking just a little time, judges provide critical feedback to student inventors as they follow the iterative design process and perfect their inventions.” 

The next qualifying event for the competition is the Online Qualifier, in which student teams showcase their developing inventions through recorded video presentations. Judging will be conducted virtually and asynchronously between Feb.12 -16. The entire process is online, can be completed on your mobile device and only takes about an hour. 

To volunteer as a K-12 InVenture Prize judge, visit https://b.gatech.edu/3RO2zpX 

For more information, visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu/current-competition#qualifiers. 

--Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications 

Members of the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) team from the Georgia Institute of Technology met with local partners, manufacturers, and business leaders in Thomasville last week to discuss how investments from the $65 million statewide federal grant can accelerate the transition to automation in manufacturing in South Georgia. The meeting was held at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC), one of the Georgia AIM partners. 

Over the summer, researchers from both partner institutions presented at the Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) Conference in Atlanta. In discussing equity pedagogies in CS education, they cited key factors from the REMEZCLA project that can broaden access and engagement of Latinx youth in CS. These factors included the structural conditions that combine coding, music production, and identity exploration, thereby enabling authentic engagement; the enhanced language access now embedded in EarSketch which includes traditional and contemporary Latin beats and sounds created by musical artists in Georgia and Puerto Rico; the informal learning curriculum centered on the students’ cultures and heritage; and the effective practices to elicit cultural congruity (a sense of cultural connection) in students within CS contexts.

The first two years of the initiative were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with workshops held either entirely or partially online. The 2022-2023 afterschool sessions were the first time both teams were able to host fully in-person workshops at local middle and high schools. The Atlanta team is led by Associate Vice President for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Diley Hernández, who serves as the principal investigator. Faculty and staff from the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing and the School of Music, including co-principal investigators Jayma Koval and Jason Freeman, round out the team. This year, the team partnered with Berkmar Middle School and Lakeside High School for twenty weeks of instruction over the course of fall and spring.

Christopher Martinez Servin, a Georgia Tech graduate student in computer science, joined as an instructor at the start of the program and was able to apply his academic and professional experience to the role.

“This experience helped me communicate better with students who had little experience with computer science and helped me improve my instruction abilities to make challenging concepts fun and easy to understand while never forgetting the power of the topics we covered,” said Servin, who is currently a systems engineer at Blue Origin, an American aerospace manufacturer.

During the spring semester, Tech biomedical engineering major Indy Cabeda Diaz, who continued her work with CEISMC after having served as a pre-teaching intern at Centennial Academy in Atlanta, was added to the instructional group. “REMEZCLA is an excellent opportunity for children whose native language is Spanish to learn computer science,” said the recent graduate. “The program not only brings together students of similar backgrounds but also includes instructors who speak their language and understand their culture, creating an environment that feels like home.”

In addition to the in-person instruction, the program included an all-day field trip to campus where students had the opportunity to have an interactive discussion with members of the EarSketch team, who listened to some of the students’ remixes and discussed how to fix coding errors or add codes. “We are extremely proud to host the REMEZCLA students at Georgia Tech and create opportunities for them to explore our campus,” said Hernández. “When they visited the School of Music and talked to other Tech students there, it was beautiful to watch them realize that they can understand perfectly well what Tech students are working on, and how it is connected to what they did in EarSketch through their participation in REMEZCLA. These are very talented, creative and brilliant students, but experiences like these can also be incredibly affirming and motivating and expand their vision of what is possible in their future.”

--Michael Turner, CEISMC Communications

Lopez-Sandoval became involved with GoSTEM’s Pathways program at Lilburn Middle School in the sixth grade, allowing her to engage in the fields of STEM learning and to discover new educational and professional career paths.

“What I enjoyed most were the summer camps. Working with professors gave me an idea what it would be like to be in a college setting,” Lopez-Sandoval said. “Coming from someone who is first-generation, I didn’t really know what it meant to be able to even go to college, in a sense.”

Lopez-Sandoval is currently in her second year at Georgia Tech after accepting the G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Program full-ride scholarship. She spent her first summer participating in the Languages for Business and Technology program in Korea as part of her international affairs major, a degree which she hopes to turn into a career focused around either global security or public policy.

For Castrejon, the GoSTEM Pathways program at Radloff Middle School offered an outlet for his interests as well as a new career path. Through GoSTEM, he prepared for the ACT and SAT, toured Georgia Tech, and even put together his first resume.

Fittingly, Castrejon was at a robotics work session preparing for an upcoming competition when he learned he had been accepted into his dream school - Georgia Tech. He also was selected for the A. James Clark Scholars Program in the College of Engineering, which helps support his undergraduate education in mechanical engineering.

In his time at Georgia Tech, the now senior has joined various clubs, excelled academically, studied abroad, and interned with Apple in California and Google in Chicago. Seeing the success that these opportunities have opened up for him, he said that his goal professionally is to be able to mirror the generosity that was shown to him.

“One of the things that I think GoSTEM definitely added of value to my life is that it brought together people who had the same academic goals as I,” he said. “I’d like to pay it forward in the way my scholarship was funded. That’s beautiful to me.”

--Michael Turner, CEISMC Communications

“The K-12 STEM Outreach Group has grown and evolved over the years. Expanding beyond our quarterly meetings, we are also engaging more groups across campus through collaborations, lunch and learns, and events like this one. Hosting the Summit, along with publishing an annual report, illustrates how well-aligned K-12 efforts are with the Institute's strategic plan by expanding access and amplifying impact,” said Heidi Turcotte, CEISMC program director for campus & community coordination.

The one-day Summit's goal is to raise awareness of K-12 activities and outreach happening across the Georgia Tech campus. It is also an excellent opportunity to network and learn more about the various programs that take place on campus.

The first Georgia Tech K-12 Summit was held in 2017 in which the Office of the Provost hosted and CEISMC served as a partner. About 100 faculty, staff, and administrators attended. From this inaugural event, the CEISMC team has established and now manages the Campus K-12 Portal, created the Georgia Tech K-12 STEM Connection Newsletter, hosted the annual Georgia Tech STEAM Leadership Conference, and supported the K-12 STEM Outreach Group.

A second Summit was held in spring 2023 with 67 participants from 30 different departments across campus. Fifteen “Lightning Talks” took place in which campus representatives shared their K-12 programs with attendees. There were also breakout sessions addressing research and evaluation in K-12 STEM education, involvement in K-12 outreach programs, and implementation best practices for K-12 activities on campus. 

This year, the Summit will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the press suites on the second floor of the Bill Moore Student Success Center. The Summit will consist of a program spotlight, lightning talks, and breakout sessions covering various topics related to K-12 outreach. Lunch will also be served. 

This event is free and open to Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students. Please register by clicking here.  For those interested in presenting a “Lightning Talk,” please indicate so on the registration form and then a separate email will be sent with further information.  

--Angelica Jones, CEISMC Communications

Georgia AIM will support a total of nine inter-related projects throughout the state and is designed to increase job and wage opportunities in distressed and rural communities and among historically underrepresented and underserved people. Georgia AIM targets rural residents, women, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), those living with disabilities, and veterans — groups historically underrepresented in manufacturing. Through innovation, collaboration, education, and participation, Georgia AIM will provide the tools and knowledge to empower these communities to participate fully in a diverse AI manufacturing workforce.

“Many people have preconceived notions about manufacturing and may not be able to see how they could possibly connect to it," said Roxanne Moore, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering’s senior research engineer and director of CEISMC’s K-12 InVenture Prize program. “What they may not realize is that manufacturing is what brings new ideas to life. AI is rapidly reshaping the manufacturing industry and changing the landscape for job opportunities. The work that we are doing will position Georgia to lead the nation into the future of AI and manufacturing.”

Moore explains that through Georgia AIM, CEISMC will expand its K-12 InVenture Prize invention and entrepreneurship program to collaborate with school districts and businesses in Southwest Georgia, Southeast Georgia and Northeast Georgia. The initiative will expand on existing partnerships Georgia Tech has established with technical colleges and minority-serving institutions.

The project will reach at least 1,000 K-12 students and 100 teachers from underserved areas, with a focus on rural communities via existing programs at Georgia Tech, other nonprofits, the Technical College System of Georgia, the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission, local manufacturers, and K-12 school leaders, Moore said.

“We need to illustrate the powerful relationships between innovation, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing so that students can see how ideas come to life and how they can improve their communities,” said Moore. “It is my hope that these regional ecosystems become a role model for how educational institutions can support each other in expanding access to high-quality STEM experiences for diverse students who typically are not empowered to create their futures.”

As part of Georgia AIM, CEISMC will also expand its offerings through partnerships with the institute’s GoSTEM program to better serve Latino populations. GoSTEM is a collaborative partnership at Georgia Tech between CEISMC and Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (IDEI). Its mission is to promote STEM academic achievement and college attendance among Latino and other cultural and linguistic minority K-12 students. Plans include translating existing invention and entrepreneurship curriculum into Spanish, adding lessons to the curriculum on AI and manufacturing, assisting with the development of regionally focused curricula, and expanding training and events to make them more inclusive.

“Our goal is to make invention education accessible to everyone in the state, especially those who may have been previously left out of the conversation,” said Danyelle Larkin, educational outreach manager with CEISMC. “By going into more rural areas of the state and working to develop multi-lingual curricula that is focused on the needs of the region, we hope to serve as a national model for how to accelerate the transition to automation in manufacturing while diversifying the next generation of AI leadership.

Additional Georgia AIM expansion plans for CEISMC and K-12 InVenture Prize include supporting an existing high school entrepreneurship program in Fitzgerald and working with Albany State University to host teacher workshops, support local schools, and host regional competitions with a focus on inventiveness and the entrepreneurial mindset.

"The overall goal of Georgia AIM is to establish the United States as a leader in AI manufacturing while making sure that these systems complement rather than replace existing workers,” Larkin said. “The work that we are doing in CEISMC plays an integral role in Georgia AIM with our specific expertise in weaving invention education and entrepreneurship into K-12 classrooms and connecting with diverse communities. This huge grant gives us a chance to amplify our work and bring even more people into the AI conversation. It’s about building a better, more equitable future for the people of Georgia.”

—Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

Both groups of students started the day with a campus tour, learning about the history of Georgia Tech’s various buildings and the wide range of majors. They also toured the Flowers Invention Studio, a makerspace staffed by student volunteers from various majors, and learned about the tools and equipment available to the Georgia Tech community from 3D printing and laser engraving to metal cutting and woodworking for DIY projects.

“Seeing all of Georgia Tech was my favorite part,” said Alejandro Leon, a first-year student at Lakeside High School. “I had never been to a college campus before, and it was so cool to see it sort of in action and people everywhere with so much going on.” 

The group then went on to enjoy lunch at West Village Dining Hall, ending the trip with a visit to the School of Music. Stephen Garrett, a research scientist with the Center for Music Technology, and members of the EarSketch team led an interactive discussion about the platform, which was co-founded by REMEZCLA’s Co-Pi and School of Music Chair Jason Freeman and School of Literature, Media, and Communication Professor Brian Magerko in 2011. Garrett listened to some of the students’ remixes and demonstrated on EarSketch how to fix any coding errors or add codes to achieve different beats in a certain pattern, for example.

“It was so fun to interact with the students’ projects and see their faces as we opened each of their Python scripts in EarSketch to explore and discuss their codes. We also showed off some of our own Python code that helps run the EarSketch platform,” said Garrett. “It was also great to show the students another side of music technology, interacting with audio and data signals to turn piano notes into control signals for a light display with our visit to Professor Frank Clark as well as seeing demonstrations from our undergraduate students to discuss their research.”

“Our goal for these field trips was to show the students the inner workings of EarSketch, which would hopefully generate more interest in their work within the REMEZCLA project,” said Michael Turner, educational outreach manager at CEISMC who has been serving as a coordinator and instructor for the initiative.  

“While it wasn’t our main goal with these field trips, I think a pleasant surprise was how spending a day touring an exciting college campus and enjoying amenities like the student dining hall was a big motivator for the REMEZCLA students as they start to wrap up another academic year at their respective schools,” Turner noted.

REMEZCLA, formally known as “Collaborative Research Broadening Participation of Latinx Students in Computer Science by Integrating Culturally Relevant Computational Music Practices” is part of a $2.9 million National Science Foundation grant awarded in 2020. The research team, being led by principal investigators Diley Hernández, associate vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Tech, and Rafael Arce-Nazario, computer science professor at UPR, are conducting this four-year study to directly address the lack of representation of Latinx and Spanish-speaking students in computer science and leading the program implementation in Atlanta and San Juan.

“We are extremely proud to host the REMEZCLA students at Georgia Tech and create opportunities for them to explore our campus,” said Hernández. “When they visited the School of Music and talked to other Tech students there, it was beautiful to watch them realize that they can understand perfectly well what Tech students are working on, and how it was connected to what they did in EarSketch through their participation in REMEZCLA. These are very talented students but experiences like these can also be incredibly affirming and motivating for them.”

The current students have been involved in the REMEZCLA project since October of last year and are preparing to begin their final lessons of the curriculum this month.

—Michael Turner, CEISMC Communications

K-12 InVenture Prize is an invention and entrepreneurship program that challenges students to identify real-world problems and design novel solutions through analysis, creativity, and the engineering design process.  

Judges provide critical feedback to student teams as they compete amongst their peers and qualify for a spot at State Finals. The next upcoming qualifying event is the Online Qualifier, which will be held virtually on Wednesday, February 15.  That is followed by in-person state finals at Georgia Tech on March 15. Judges are needed for both events.  

"We count on our volunteer judges to give feedback and encouragement to our young inventors and entrepreneurs,” said Senior Research Engineer Roxanne Moore who serves as the K-12 InVenture Prize director. “We are creating the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs, and we make it easy to volunteer to judge. Online qualifiers can be done online on your mobile device, and it usually takes less than an hour. The in-person event is about a 2–3-hour commitment and will brighten your entire year.” 

To volunteer as a K-12 InVenture Prize judge, visit https://tinyurl.com/bddncwp9.

For more information, visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu/current-competition. 

--Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

The event was held at Southern Regional Technical College in Thomasville. Community leaders from local businesses judged the projects and presented awards.  

“We are so pleased to see invention education continuing to grow in South Georgia. Georgia Tech is committed to promoting innovative teaching and learning in the area and with new funding provided by the Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing Corridor coalition grant, we hope to see even more students engaged next year,” said Danyelle Larkin, educational outreach manager with Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing.  

The GA-AIM project is supported by a $65 million grant Georgia Tech received in September 2022 from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The goals of the project are to support a statewide initiative to combine artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach. The grant is also designed to increase job and wage opportunities in distressed and rural communities and among historically underrepresented and underserved people.  

Through GA-AIM, the K-12 InVenture Prize will collaborate with rural communities, school districts, and businesses in Southwest Georgia, Southeast Georgia and Northeast Georgia to provide invention, entrepreneurial, and artificial intelligence manufacturing education to expand knowledge and future career opportunities accessible to K-12 students in rural areas. 

In addition to the competitions, students also participated in hands-on STEAM learning activities, like the Rigamajig building kits presented by Thomasville Center for the Arts, as well as simulators and Virtual Reality experiences provided by Southern Regional Technical College. The Thomas County Central High School FIRST Tech Challenge team also demonstrated their robotics and coding.  

“We decided to do K-12 InVenture Prize this year because we were looking for an enrichment project that the kids could participate in that would challenge them but would also be engaging,” said Daneen Ingles, a 4th grade math, science, and social studies teacher at Cross Creek Elementary School. “We have learned so much through our experience and the kids have really enjoyed the process even on the hard days. We hope to be able to improve our instruction and guidance next year to help the kids be even better problem solvers and innovative.” 

The following winners from the K-12 InVenture Prize are invited to participate in the state finals competition at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on March 15.  

Elementary School Division Winners   

• First Place: “The Egg Saver,” Guthrie Sprague, Ruby McInnis, and Trinity Sloan, Cross Creek Elementary School 

• Second Place: “Train Hackers,” Milo Lindsey, Marrik NeSmith, Sarah Stewart, and Colton Cooper, Cross Creek Elementary School 

• Third Place: “Littertron,” Caden Singletary, Brayden Greene, Anam Barkat, Ander Oliveto, and Preston Vanheingen, Cross Creek Elementary School 

Middle School Division Winners 

• First Place: “Organ Eezs,” Ava Dennis, Cassidy Watts, and Emma Brannen, Thomasville YMCA 

• Second Place: “Star Seer,” Janiya Ivey and Olivia Phillips, Thomasville YMCA

• Third Place: “Meddie Reminders,” Lindsay Hinson, Thomasville YMCA

High School Division Winners  

• First Place: “Smart Feeder,” Dixie Rose Blue and Hailey Hudson, Thomasville High School 

• Second Place: “Smart Bird Feeder,” Hull Krech, Jr., Thomasville High School 

• Third Place: “Wash n’ Go,” Rebecca Holt, Abby Kennedy, and Avery Hurst, Thomasville High School 

In addition, “Your Counselor Phone App” invented by Jacqueline Serrano from Thomasville High School, won the People’s Choice Award and the “Pool Drowning Lights” by Antania Thomas from Thomasville High School won the Georgia Tech Judge’s Award.  

“The energy and enthusiasm of the students as they described their vision was refreshing and provides a glimpse of the future, and it is bright!  We look forward to continuing our support of this program to inspire the dreamers of tomorrow,” said Corey Risden, director of operations at CheckMate Industries in Thomasville, who served as a judge at the event.  

Educators or afterschool program providers interested in participating in South Georgia Innovation Day 2024, can contact program coordinator Katie Chastain at katie@tisktask.org.  

For more information on State Finals, click here. 

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize competition, click here.  

--Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications 

Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) is looking for K-12 educators and Georgia Tech students to serve as Horizons at Georgia Tech Lead Teachers and Assistant Teacher Interns respectively. These are paid positions that will help with the 2023 Horizons at Georgia Tech summer program that lasts for six weeks from June 5 – July 14, 2023. Staff will also be expected to attend pre-training, orientation, and post-planning sessions.  

These programs are weeklong camps that focus on increasing science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) knowledge through various educational experiential activities. Instructors will be Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students as well as K-12 educators and industry professionals.

The Atlanta summer programs are for rising 2^nd- 12^th grade students. Summer P.E.A.K.S. (Programs for Enrichment and Accelerated Knowledge in STEAM) are offered on-campus and STEAM Whistle Workshops are virtual sessions.  

“We are excited to be able to provide summer learning opportunities to Georgia's K-12 youth again this summer,” said Sirocus Barnes, CEISMC director of expanded learning programs (previously student programs). “We are also excited to welcome youth to our campus to engage in high quality STEAM programs and introduce them to the world class research that takes place at Georgia Tech.”

This year’s First-Generation College Institute (FGCI) will become a three-day residential program on the Atlanta campus. The FGCI targets first-generation and limited income 8^th-12^th grade students in their transition from high school to college with a focus on STEM. Students will be connected with programs, resources, and people to support their success at Georgia Tech, as well as, be engaged in high-quality academic and hands-on STEM enrichment learning.

The Savannah summer programs are for rising 2^nd grade through high school students with a variety of STEAM topics offered on-campus, such as LEGO Robotics for 4^th and 5^th grade students and college application prep through fun activities for 10^th-12^th grade students. 

“This summer will be another exciting opportunity for local youth to engage in high quality STEM/STEAM programs here at the Georgia Tech Savannah campus,” said Timothy Cone, CEISMC Savannah program director. “With even more diversity in programming and additional scholarships, there is sure to be something for everyone!”

In 2023 CEISMC Savannah is expanding their offerings to include rising second graders for the first time. There will be five different programs for this age group spread throughout the summer, and each one has been carefully designed to offer a meaningful and fun experience in the areas of STEM and STEAM.

CEISMC continues to receive Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST) funding for scholarship opportunities for underrepresented and underserved students to attend the in-person sessions in Atlanta and Savannah. BOOST funding is provided by the American Rescue Plan, and the grant program is administered by the Georgia Department of Education in partnership with the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network.

CEISMC Atlanta Summer Programs

• June 5 – July 28, 2023, usually from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily (unless otherwise stated) with lunch provided.
• Weekly extended care available from 3:15 to 6 p.m. for an additional fee.
• Cost: STEAM Whistle Workshops - $225 for each virtual session, depending on topic. SUMMER P.E.A.K.S. - $450 for each in-person camp, depending on topic.
• BOOST Scholarships: https://expandedlearning.ceismc.gatech.edu/scholarship
• Register: https://expandedlearning.ceismc.gatech.edu/
• Questions: summerpeaks@gatech.edu

CEISMC Savannah Summer Programs

• June 5 – July 21, 2023, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily with lunch provided. 
• Cost: $300-$350 for each camp, depending on topic.
• BOOST Scholarships: https://ceismc.gatech.edu/savannah/summer-scholarship-information
• Register:  https://ceismc.gatech.edu/savannah/
• Questions: gtsoutreach@gatech.edu

--Angelica Jones, CEISMC Communications

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to receive this award from an organization I have belonged to and admired since 1978,” said Usselman. “It is really nice to see that helping all types of students learn the joys of pondering and understanding the natural and engineered world is so valued by the scientific community.”

Usselman is being honored for her distinguished contributions to gender equity in universities and major contributions to curriculum and teacher professional development during her 26-year tenure at CEISMC. She is among more than 500 scientists, engineers and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who have been elected as 2022 Fellows and among three Georgia Tech faculty in this year’s class.  

“This is a truly well-deserved recognition of Dr. Usselman’s impressive track record of ground-breaking research on, and implementation of highly innovative K-12 STEAM curricula and pedagogy,” said CEISMC Executive Director Lizanne DeStefano. “Spanning computer science, engineering, mathematics and the sciences, Marion’s scholarship has focused on integrating cutting edge STEAM content with student-centered pedagogy in ways that engage diverse learners and maximize learning outcomes. For more than two decades, she has worked to translate the excitement and innovation of Georgia Tech research and innovation into public school classrooms throughout Georgia. Kudos to AAAS for celebrating her accomplishment!” 

Usselman, who earned a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Johns Hopkins University, joined academia in the bench sciences, first as a postdoctoral fellow at her doctorate alma mater, and then as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. She chose to leave that aspect of the discipline so she could pursue her interests in improving education and access in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at all levels, first at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, before arriving at the Institute in 1996.  

“Throughout my career, I have had several opportunities to lead teams of talented individuals as we developed an extensive research and implementation programs focused on multiple dimensions of STEM educational reform, primarily but not exclusively at the K-12 level,” explained Usselman, who also serves as CEISMC’s associate director for development and educational innovation. “These research thrusts generally began with small-scale, topic-focused projects and have grown into large, well-funded and multi-collaborator programs tasked by sponsors with developing rigorously tested models of STEM educational reform for national dissemination.”  

Gender Equity in STEM 

One of the first projects Usselman worked on focused on issues of gender equity in STEM as program manager for the multi-institutional National Science Foundation-funded project, Integrating Gender Equity and Reform (inGEAR).  Usselman and her colleagues conducted an in-depth institutional self-assessment to examine the factors, including the structure of the educational programs and content delivery, that influenced the academic paths of women and minorities who chose to enroll at Georgia Tech and their career trajectories, particularly in engineering.    

“At that time, women made up approximately 28% of undergraduates at Georgia Tech,” she said. “While doing the self-study, it became apparent that women actually did better than men at Tech in fields that were very male dominated. At that point I realized that equity did not require that equal numbers of people enroll in the field. Equity means that those of equal talent feel equally at home in the field.”   

The impact of this NSF project and subsequent educational studies guided Usselman’s research endeavors to address the same issues in the K-12 space. “My team has spent the last 15-20 years designing curricular exemplars, based on well-established research on how people learn and factors that encourage a sense of belonging and identity,” said Usselman. “Our view is that good reform-based teaching that centers on diverse students’ motivational and multicultural needs is the primary driver of success in supporting and expanding all students’ access to careers in the STEM fields, particularly in engineering and computer science.”   

University-K-12 Partnerships 

A surefire way to pique K-12 students’ interests in the sciences and promote their career awareness is by surrounding them with role models. In 2000, Usselman conceived an idea and wrote a grant for NSF’s then new Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program that would bring Georgia Tech graduate students into high school classrooms as teaching interns with the goals of increasing graduate student leadership and teaching skills, improving K-12 STEM education, and developing and exploring the nature of partnerships between the Institute and K-12 schools. With $3.8 million in NSF funds, the Student and Teacher Enhancement Partnership (STEP) program placed 130 graduate teaching interns in local schools between 2001 and 2010.  

During that time, Usselman, a co-principal investigator on the grant, met her now CEISMC colleague, Senior Research Associate Douglas Edwards, when she visited his engineering classroom in 2003 at Westlake High School. He was one of the teachers to receive a Graduate STEM Fellow.   

“I have enjoyed being Marion’s collaborator, colleague, and friend over the past 20 years,” said Edwards. “Our collaboration led to the first and only Engineers Without Borders high school chapter to ever exist. When I think of her, I think of Mary McLeod Bethune’s quote, ‘our children must never lose their zeal for building a better world.’”  

Innovative Curricula Implementation 

Lessons learned from STEP about university-K-12 partnerships played an integral role in developing one of the more recent large and comprehensive partnerships, which included engineering-focused curriculum developed at Georgia Tech.  

A collaboration between CEISMC, the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and the Griffin-Spalding County School System, AMP-IT-UP was a seven-year, $7.5 million NSF grant that introduced middle school students to STEM Innovation and Design courses that incorporated scientific practices and mathematical foundations into lessons that were tied to design challenges.  

“Students who took the semester-long course during at least two of their years in middle school showed very significant gains in math and science Milestone test scores, as well as higher engagement and lower levels of math and science anxiety,” said Usselman, who served as principal investigator on the grant.  

One of the key elements of making these types of partnerships work is the variety of experiences of the curriculum developers, researchers and educators involved. Jeff Rosen was a technology teacher at Wheeler High School when he first met Usselman in 2002. He became involved in the effort led by her and a colleague for Georgia Tech to become an Affiliate Partner of FIRST LEGO League, an international K-12 robotics competition program. Over their five-year collaboration, they doubled the number of students participating every year, with expansion plans that were directed specifically to attract underrepresented populations. Usselman recruited him to CEISMC in 2007 as a program director.  

“From that time forward, Marion and I have worked on numerous curriculum development grants that at the heart were always targeting ways to support science learning for all students and to help overcome the stigma about who can or should do STEM,” said Rosen, who served as a co-principal investigator on the AMP-IT-UP grant. “Her science background and personal desire to make STEM applicable to all has been the cornerstone of the vision for a number of large National Science Foundation’s grants and she makes this work valued and enjoyable.” 

Technology-Based Pedagogy 

With curricular innovations comes the exploration of using some type of technology that can greatly impact the results of any intervention. For example, Georgia Tech School of Music Chair Jason Freeman and Georgia Tech Professor of Digital Media Brian Magerko partnered with Usselman and her team in 2013 when they were developing a new grant proposal around EarSketch, a web-based digital audio workstation they created in 2011. They wanted to study EarSketch’s impact on student learning and engagement when art and music are integrated in computer science high school courses. The project was funded by a $3 million NSF grant in 2014.  

“I’ve been told that Marion has ‘the golden touch’ with funding proposals, in that a crazy high percentage of proposals she is involved in get funded,” said Freeman. “That’s probably true, but it misses the point of what makes Marion so incredible. These projects get funded because Marion has an uncanny ability to identify the big, pressing challenges in our educational system and figure out how, as researchers, we can tackle those problems to make a real, lasting impact. She is also an incredible mentor who is able to step into each project in just the right way, giving her colleagues the support they need while also trusting them to innovate in their own unique ways.” 

CEISMC has continued to work for over a decade now on EarSketch-focused projects, that have included a $2.5 million NSF grant in 2016 in which CEISMC researchers created an introductory high school computer science course under the umbrella of a new framework called Student-Centered Computing (SCC). This course includes a year-long project, in which students can develop digital technology and programming skills as they research and design solutions for problems of their choice.  

During a pilot of the course implemented by schools in Fulton and Gwinnet counties in 2017-2019, 14 classes with three teachers reached over 350 students. Participants showed increases in cognitive engagement, student agency, and an increase in their intent to continue in computing careers. With such success, two middle school courses were created, and the team is currently developing an SCC version of the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course.  

“The ongoing SCC program has provided online professional development for over 150 teachers, with implementation in schools across Georgia,” said Usselman. “With generous support from Google, we’re now working to improve the user experience and to raise awareness of its availability nationally.”  

By all accounts, Usselman has led an extraordinary career with a commitment to creating an educational system that is accessible to all learners with different perspectives, skills, and interests. Her research contributions have and continue to emphasize the importance of developing a highly skilled and diverse workforce of the future by increasing inquiry and experiential learning in K-12 schools, integrating STEM fields within the classroom, researching the barriers to transformative educational reform, and working with high needs and underserved schools and student populations.  

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications 

“‘Your Voice is Power’ is a unique, multidisciplinary experience that explores how coding, music, and entrepreneurship can all be pathways to social justice,” said Roxanne Moore, project lead for YVIP and senior research engineer at Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). 

The competition is open to K-12 students in which they are invited to create remixes of songs by Williams, Alicia Keys, and Khalid using EarSketch, a web-based digital audio workstation that uses Python or JavaScript to compose music. The platform was developed at Tech in 2011 by co-creators Jason Freeman, School of Music chair, and Brian Magerko, professor of digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.

Approximately 1,800 students representing 30 U.S. states and Guam submitted their remixes with reflections on the songs’ messages about equity. The entries were judged on music, message, and coding competency. 

“Judging the ‘Your Voice is Power’ remix competition has been a true pleasure. The song submissions and personal reflection messages that speak to social issues of the past and present are a powerful combination,” said Jen Driscoll, principal product manager with Amazon in the Community. “Engaging students in thoughtful work on these topics and providing a creative outlet to share their work with others inspires change on multiple levels.”

For example, student winner Paul Coliflores said he attributes his motivation for entering the competition to paving the way for others to consider computer science as a viable career choice.  This is the first time a student from Guam was named a grand prize winner. “Through my journey in learning computer science, and coming across this competition, I learned that even if I can make it this far, others like me can do the same,” he said. “There are intelligent people here who I know for sure can succeed in this field, but they sell themselves short because they do not believe in themselves. One day I plan to change that by spreading the message that computer science can truly lead to equity.”   

YVIP includes a related project-based curriculum consisting of five to six modular lesson plans and other supplemental material for middle school and high school students. The goal of this educational initiative is to encourage more K-12 students from diverse populations to enter the world of computer science. 

Teacher winner Laurie O’Brien said that implementing the YVIP curriculum in this iteration of the competition created community among her students. “Through the remixes, students who otherwise would never talk to each other were praising each other's work,” explained O’Brien who teaches computer science at Keaau High School in Hawaii. “They gained confidence to play their mixes for the class and get peer feedback. Allowing my students opportunities to share and listen to each other helped to create a positive and fun learning environment.”

While most of the competitors were high school students, there were a fair amount of middle school and elementary students who submitted remixes. More than 64 percent of participants had never used the EarSketch platform before and 28 percent had never coded before this experience. 

“EarSketch, from years of research, has shown an impact in engaging students in computing by creating an authentic learning environment that has personal and real-world relevance in both computational and music domains,” said Sabrina Grossman, CEISMC program director and YVIP curriculum developer.  “‘Your Voice is Power’ builds on this work and continues to provide the opportunity for students to personally express themselves through code.  The implementation of these programs in the classroom can significantly impact students’ intention to persist in the computer science field.”

Student winners include:

• Paul Coliflores, Grade 11, Simon A. Sanchez High School, Yigo, Guam (Teacher mentor: Elaine Cortez)

• Mandy Deng, Grade 10, Lane Tech College Prep High School, Chicago, IL (Teacher mentor: Brenda Remess)

• David Deutsch, Grade 9, University City High School, San Diego, CA (Teacher mentor: David West)

• Christopher Garcia, Grade 10, James A. Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, CA (Teacher mentor: Darryl Newhouse)

• Josie Paik, Grade 12, Agoura High School, Agoura Hills, CA (Teacher mentor: Joseph Keays)

Teacher winners include:

• Joseph Keays, Agoura High School, Agoura Hills, CA

• Darryl Newhouse, James A. Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, CA

• Laurie O’Brien, Keaau High School, Keaau, HI

• Nicole Macaluso, Samuel Mickle Elementary School, Mickleton, NJ

• Amy Wozniak, Lane Tech College Prep High School, Chicago, IL

For additional details about all the winners, please visit: https://www.teachers.earsketch.org/results. A video featuring Williams delivering a congratulatory message to the student winners can be viewed on CEISMC's YouTube channel.

The next round of competition will go live Oct. 23. Students and teachers are encouraged to start exploring the EarSketch platform in preparation for the competition. For more information, please visit https://www.teachers.earsketch.org/compete.

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

—Video produced by Randy Trammell, CEISMC Communications

“I don’t have a particular plan for immediately after college but want to seek an engineering position in which I am making a visibly positive impact on others’ lives and exercising the full extent of my creativity,” he said. “I have been trying to find something of a niche in between engineering and education.” 

Both internships were made possible through existing partnerships created by the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). For the last decade, Pre-Teaching Advisor Susan Belmonte has been facilitating these types of experiential learning opportunities with public and private schools and community organizations.

“Students who complete the internships traditionally have some interest in education whether using their talents directly as a teacher in that space or being involved through their industry through outreach,” explained Belmonte, who has a dual role with CEISMC and Pre-Graduate and Pre-Professional (PGPP) Advising. “These opportunities allow students to delve deeper into their interests early on so they can make better informed future career decisions.”

In spring 2022, Webber was one of three Georgia Tech pre-teaching interns at Centennial Academy, a K-8 school in Atlanta. He worked in a sixth-grade science classroom, observing lessons, leading small and large group instruction, and collaboratively planning problem-based learning (PBL) activities.

For example, Webber designed and executed a classwide PBL, “Planet Crayon,” in which students were astronomers tasked with mapping out a crayon-based planet using coordinate planes and creating prototypes of the planet’s waxy rock formations, utilizing their rock cycle knowledge.

“I now know that my ideal education environment and generally my professional environment is one where I am allowed to express creative freedom,” he said. “If I pursue education as a career, it will be with a subject matter highly prone to unconventional teaching methods and interdisciplinary connections, and I would not have known how important that was to me until my internship with Centennial Academy.”

During the summer, Webber was the first undergraduate pre-teaching intern to participate in CEISMC’s Georgia-Intern Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) program, which places K-12 teachers in STEM-based internships with universities, organizations, and industry.

He worked in the Smart Structures and Dynamical Systems Laboratory of Woodruff Professor of Mechanical Engineering Alper Erturk who hosted teacher Kimberly Ford and students Simone Marshall and Shameria Smith from Booker T. Washington High School as part of the GIFT program.

Webber said that he was happy to participate in another opportunity to engage with students, this time explaining in more relatable terms the complex concepts behind studying the acoustic properties of the human skull. He also demonstrated his 3D printing knowledge by creating the skull prototypes that were used in the wave propagation experiments.

“The research Dr. Alper and graduate researcher Eetu Kohtanen are conducting in the lab is amazing, and even in the absence of any K-12 connection, I would find the work exciting and fruitful,” he said. “Through GIFT, however, I was able to devote just as much to the advancement of the research as I would to the investment in the next generation of researchers.”

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

SIDEBAR:

Daniel Webber was the first undergraduate pre-teaching intern to participate in CEISMC's Georgia-Intern Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) program over the summer. Learn more about his experience from the GIFT Program's "End of Summer Highlights" video.  

The research project, called “Collaborative Research Broadening Participation of Latinx Students in Computer Science by Integrating Culturally Relevant Computational Music Practices,” is part of a $2.9 million National Science Foundation grant the two institutions received in 2020 for the four-year study that takes place simultaneously in Georgia and Puerto Rico schools. The project (Award #2005791) is dubbed “REMEZCLA” by project members, which means remix in Spanish.

The research team is being led by principal investigators Diley Hernández, associate vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Tech, and Rafael Arce-Nazario, computer science professor at UPR. “One of the most important innovations of our project was to take a highly successful learning platform, EarSketch, and make it more linguistically accessible to Spanish-speaking students and teachers,” explained Hernández. “In this way, we are creating opportunities for them to explore within EarSketch a variety of music genres that are relevant to them and their local communities.”

Musical artists in Georgia and Puerto Rico created the sounds and beats for EarSketch that included traditional and contemporary Latin genres rich in social, historical, and cultural contexts that the students can use in their individual remixes, while gaining coding and computational thinking skills

“Almost none of the K-12 schools in Puerto Rico include computation skills in their courses. Thus, the activities organized by our project are the first and possibly only explicit computer science experiences that some of the participants will have during K-12,” said Arce-Nazario. “We believe that by providing these experiences framed into cultural and musical activities, our project will positively inspire and empower students who could otherwise show little interest in traditional computer science-related courses.”

For the past two years, the curriculum has been implemented as one-week camps offered twice during the summer and as afterschool programs during the academic year at both research sites.

Surveys, focus groups, and interviews are among the methods used to determine student engagement differences in music composition skills and computational practices as well as the role EarSketch plays in that dynamic. The researchers are also studying the degree to which cultural engagement impacts participants’ educational outcomes such as sense of belonging, content knowledge, and computer science identity.

The research team also includes Tech co-principal investigators Douglas Edwards, senior research associate with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing, and Jason Freeman, EarSketch co-creator and chair of the School of Music, and University of Puerto Rico co-principal investigator Joseph Carroll Miranda, assistant professor in the School of Education.

Team members collaborate closely with Tom McKlin and other members of The Findings Group for the purpose of research and evaluation. Jayma Koval, Stephen Garrett, Michael Turner and Jyoti Kaneria from Tech and Lilliana Marrero Solís, Isaris Quiñones Pérez, and Pascua Padró Collazo from UPR round out the group.

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

Now in its 20th year, the Noyce program provides funding to universities for scholarships, stipends, and programmatic support to recruit and prepare highly qualified K-12 science and math teachers in high-need school districts. 

The exploratory study was conceived by Meltem Alemdar, CEISMC’s associate director for educational research and evaluation, who had served as an external evaluator on four different Noyce projects over several years.

The researchers, which included co-principal investigators Jessica Gale, CEISMC senior research scientist, and Christopher Cappelli, former CEISMC senior research scientist now at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recruited about 160 Noyce Fellows in 50 programs across 30 states to participate in the national study.

A new survey was developed using an innovative methodology called social network analysis in which patterns of social ties among network individuals were quantitatively measured. Teachers completed the Teacher Personal Network Survey that asked about their school support structures, personal networks, and attitudes of self-efficacy as related to their Noyce program participation. Follow-up telephone interviews were conducted with a smaller sample of participants.

“Some of our results showed that teachers who have more connected networks are more likely to remain in high-need schools,” said Alemdar. “Additionally, our results showed the importance of expanding teachers’ networks and the significance of receiving unique types of support from the various people within teachers’ networks.”

Other compelling findings include: 

• Noyce Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Retention: Although self-efficacy was not significantly correlated with retention, correlations were found between teaching self-efficacy and several Noyce program characteristics. This study found positive relationships between Noyce teachers’ teaching self-efficacy and several Noyce program characteristics: mentorship, high-need pre-service teaching experience, professional learning community participation, being observed by Noyce faculty, and job-finding assistance.
• Sources of Self-Efficacy: Although teaching self-efficacy is associated with many benefits for teachers and students, little is known about how it develops in the early years of a teacher’s career. Teachers with less experience reported lower self-efficacy for classroom management and instruction and identified more negative enactive experiences. In interviews, teachers described how sources combined or interacted to influence their self-efficacy. Science teachers reported significantly more negative mastery experiences than mathematics teachers in the sample. Findings contribute to better understandings of the sources of self-efficacy with implications for how best to support teachers in different disciplines and at different stages of their careers.
• Noyce Program Characteristics and Retention: This study identified a set of nine characteristics of Noyce programs that were positively correlated with retention. This indicates that when a teacher was exposed to these program characteristics, there was an overall increase in the likelihood that they would remain in a high-need school. Qualitative analysis revealed that teachers identified three major categories of support provided by Noyce programs as increasing their likelihood of retention in high-need schools: support from Noyce faculty, support from the Noyce teacher network, and training and support offered by Noyce programs.

A detailed summary of results is highlighted in the first chapter of the newly released Research in Practice: Preparing and Retaining K-12 STEM Teachers in High-Need School Districts published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Alemdar co-led a panel about the book as part of the 2022 Noyce Summit that was held in Washington, D.C. in July.

—Joëlle Walls and Angelica Jones, CEISMC Communications 

The summer programs are weeklong camps designed to increase science, technology, art, engineering, and mathematics knowledge through various educational experiential activities ranging from coding and 3D game design to robotics and supply chain/logistics. More than 45 camps, the combined total of both campuses, are uniquely themed. Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students as well as K-12 educators and industry professionals will serve as instructors.

The Atlanta summer offerings for rising 2^nd-12^th graders include on-campus sessions through Summer P.E.A.K.S. (Programs for Enrichment and Accelerated Knowledge in STEAM). Virtual sessions, called STEAM Whistle Workshops, provide live instruction, self-paced project work, and team-building activities.

“Our programs have a proven track record of increasing students’ interest in STEAM and STEM.,” said Sirocus Barnes, CEISMC director of student programs. “Our programs allow students to have similar experiences as scientists and engineers. In our programs, students create solutions, make, design, redesign, and solve complex problems in a fun and engaging learning environment.”

The Savannah summer offerings for rising 3^rd graders through high school include in-person sessions only such as Girls Engineering Camp in partnership with the Society of Women Engineers or Exploring Music through STEM in partnership with the Savannah Philharmonic.

“To create relevant, and real-world applicable programming we are partnering with several local businesses along with the local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and Savannah Philharmonic,” said Timothy Cone, CEISMC Savannah program director. “These partnerships mean that students participating in our programs will have a better understanding of how STEM and STEAM skills relate to their future careers.”   

CEISMC also received Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST) funding that will be used to provide scholarships for underrepresented and underserved students to attend the in-person sessions in Atlanta and Savannah. Funding for the BOOST program comes from the American Rescue Plan, and the grant program is administered by the Georgia Department of Education in partnership with the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network (GSAN).

Atlanta Student Programs

• June 6 – July 22, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily with lunch and snacks provided.
• Weekly extended care available from 3:15 to 6 p.m. for an additional fee.
• Cost: $225-$450 for each camp, depending on topic.
• BOOST Scholarships:  https://studentprograms.ceismc.gatech.edu/scholarship
• Register: https://studentprograms.ceismc.gatech.edu/
• Questions: summerpeaks@gatech.edu

Savannah Student Programs

• June 6 – July 22, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily and students should bring a non-perishable lunch each day.
• Cost: $200-250 for each camp, depending on topic.
• BOOST Scholarships: https://ceismc.gatech.edu/savannah/summer-scholarship-information
• Register:  https://ceismc.gatech.edu/savannah/
• Questions: gtsoutreach@gatech.edu

—James-Addis Hill, CEISMC Communications

The LCSF, one of the major events for GoSTEM, has also been a staple of the Atlanta Science Festival since 2014. The Atlanta Science Festival features more than 100 interactive and educational sessions over a two-week period every year.

“It is hard to believe it has been a decade since we started the Latino College and STEM Fair, and I am so proud to see how much it has grown and flourished since then” said Analía Rao, GoSTEM’s Program Director. “This fair brings together a community of people who believe that college and STEM can and should be possibilities for all students. We want students to see themselves in STEM, to feel that they belong in this community. And I’m confident our fair provides that. I am proud of the rich content that we deliver at this event to inspire and prepare our future Latino scientists and leaders in STEM.”

The half-day program began with a keynote address by Dr. Cecilia Aragon, an award-winning author, airshow pilot, and the first Latina Full Professor of Engineering at the University of Washington. Then Georgia Tech’s Latino Organization for Graduate Students (LOGRAS) led a workshop on preparing for post-secondary education and STEM careers.

Event partner, Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe), Inc., presented a “College Experience Panel,” comprised of alumni of HoPe’s program who are pursuing STEM fields. The non-profit organization builds a sense of belonging for high school students to succeed through leadership development, educational resources, and community services.

“Our focus was to invite Spanish-speaking, Latinx college students and working professionals, who could give genuine perspectives on their experiences navigating college life and its difficulties,” explained Sebastian Maturino, HoPe’s director of marketing who served as the moderator. “We aimed to shine a light on any questions students or parents might have about the college process.”

César López, HoPe’s director of education, added that the first-time official collaboration with LCSF also amplified the organization’s focus. “I enjoyed working with the GoSTEM team to intentionally create and structure a STEM-oriented college student panel that would resonate with families across a virtual platform,” he said. “We are excited to see how we can continue to work with GoSTEM in their future endeavors.”

A week prior to the virtual LCSF, over 600 K-12 students were engaged in STEM activities that were organized virtually or in person at 10 schools and community organizations throughout Georgia with an online event in Puerto Rico.

A mixture of faculty, students, and researchers from Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and Georgia College and State University led the 13 activities that explored various concepts ranging from chemistry and physical science to biomedical engineering and chemical engineering.

Marisa Brito, a first-year neuroscience major at Georgia Tech, taught Gadsden Elementary School students about the different states of matter before the students made oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid that does not follow Newton’s law of viscosity. “They were in second grade, and they all seemed engaged in the short lesson, and were very excited about making oobleck,” she said.

Brito feels that opportunities such as the LCSF, are essential not only for undergraduates, but also K-12 students. “Growing up, I never really saw or heard of any Latinos in the field I wanted to pursue,” said Brito. “So, providing this representation to young kids while teaching them science allows them to gain an interest in the subject and know that there are other Latinos who are in STEM and succeeding.”

Similarly for Tyler Kinner, a research scientist with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, relating to students through authentic scientific inquiry not only helps pique their interests in the STEM fields, but more importantly, creates a sense of belonging in this sphere. As a first-time LCSF volunteer, he traveled to Lilburn Middle School to deliver a lesson he adapted from his days as a high school chemistry teacher in which students observed the differences between colors derived from fruits and spices and artificial sources.

Growing up in a small rural community, Kinner realized his K-12 experience was different from those of many others. After mentoring high school students during his undergraduate years, he developed a passion for inclusive STEM education.

“I developed a sense of urgency around this very real gap between interested students in STEM and the ability of STEM fields to serve these students,” he said. “It is important to create connections for students to feel like they are members of the community, whether it is Georgia Tech, STEM or a community involved in lifelong learning. Being an active participant in these communities in a way that is visible to students and engages them as participants helps propel them into the next phase of their development and growth towards college and career.”

Dr. Julián Rímoli, the Pratt & Whitney Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, strives to be a role model every day, which is why he has been involved in outreach activities and the GoSTEM event since joining Georgia Tech in 2011. “The Latino College and STEM Fair is a unique event that provides an opportunity for us from Georgia Tech to connect with Latino students and their families,” he said. “I believe this is one of the most impactful Latino outreach activities at Georgia Tech, and I am glad that faculty are given the opportunity to engage.”

For this iteration, Rímoli combined a motivational presentation with a virtual activity on aerospace structures that included awards for top designs for over 300 high school students from the Monserrate León de Irizarry school in Puerto Rico.

After Rímoli shared his professional journey that started in a small town in Argentina, the students learned how to design lightweight yet strong aerospace structures using an educational app he created called Truss Me!, which helped them understand the behavior of these structures through physics-based simulations. The students then worked on their own designs and presented the next week.

“I have only once before done an outreach activity in a virtual format due to COVID, and never with this extraordinary number of participants,” he said. “I was very impressed by the students’ abilities to design lightweight structures with relatively minor directions!”

Brenda Lee Estévez Moreno, who teaches earth science at the Cabo Rojo-based high school, was happy that her students were able to participate in all facets of the LCSF. “This STEM activity was motivating and very enriching for both our students and faculty,” she said. “Dr. Julián Rímoli knew how to transmit his passion for his work as an engineer, while motivating our young Latinos to follow their goals and work hard for what they want professionally.”

Jean Michael Jiménez Ramírez, a participating high school student, said that the experience helped him realize that programming can be a dynamic and engaging task, rather than a tedious one. “The virtual STEM activity was challenging, but very fun,” he explained. “It did not matter how hard the challenge was, you always had a wonderful time. My favorite part was that you kept learning new ways to program and improve, which really paid off in the final activity.”

For student Wendell Kenai Rivera Estevez, the opportunity to connect with a Latino individual like himself was a critical aspect, in making the STEM field more reachable and welcoming.  He compared STEM to sports in which there are many talented people, who may not be able to realize their full potential in the field because they never get the opportunity to practice or are not aware of the possibilities.

“In this case, I know about STEM because of activities like this and so it would be awesome if there could be more, not for me, but for all those good players out there,” he said. “This made me feel more comfortable like I could do something in STEM because people just like me already do amazing things.”

Alana Cruz Romeu, also a student participant from Puerto Rico, cited the student camaraderie as a favorite part of the activity. “The activity was wonderful, and I truly enjoyed every experience I had,” she said. “I think that my favorite part about it was being able to talk to other people that have similar interests to mine and show them what I was able to do throughout my journey.”

The Latino College and STEM Fair was sponsored by the Latin American Association, MALDEF, Univisión 34 Atlanta, Mundo Hispánico, and Telemundo Atlanta. The organizing team from GoSTEM included Analía Rao, GoSTEM Program Director, Jorge Breton, Director of Hispanic Initiatives at Georgia Tech, and Michael Turner, GoSTEM Educational Outreach Manager.

For more information, please visit: https://gostem.gatech.edu/programs-and-engagement-opportunities/annual-latino-college-stem-fair.

—Joëlle Walls, CEISMC Communications

The curriculum guides students through the engineering design process to create an invention that solves a real-world problem and culminates in pitching the idea to earn a spot in the state competition held at Georgia Tech.

Their teacher, Maggie Hunter, encouraged the students to understand the needs of others by first looking inward as they began work on the semester-long project.

“We started with the foundation of empathy, teaching the students how to put themselves in other people's shoes, and its role in solving problems,” Hunter said. “We learned how inventions impact our families, communities, country, and planet. We then dug deeper by learning about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, to expand awareness of important global issues. We talked about life underwater and life on land. Our students would gravitate towards issues that were important to them, then work in teams to conduct research to further understand the problem.”

The students zeroed in on overfishing as the broad issue they wanted to research, as they had personal experiences that made it important to them.

De Martini recalled a moment on a beach vacation that moved him to action. “There was a minnow that got washed up onto the sand and I just felt so bad for it because it was just like, ‘help me help me,’” he said. “And so, I scooped it up and brought it back to the ocean, just one fish. It made me wonder about all the other fish that are being caught and taken from their habitats.”

Rippeon had a similar experience. “I thought I was too little to do something about it,” she explained. “But I knew if I could find a way to help, then it would make a big difference.”

The invention that the team developed works by installing a scale and measurement bar into a metal bucket. When the limit of 12 pounds of fish has been reached, a sensor beeps to alert the fisher. Deciding on a reasonable limit for fishers was a key part of the process. In order to do so, the team surveyed family and friends who had an interest in the sport. The device can be used in freshwater as well as saltwater fishing.

“The Fish Saver is designed to be practical and to put good decision-making into the hands of those catching fish,” Rippeon said. “So, this is what the actual fishers will use. They take the fish out of the ocean and put it in the bucket. That’s how it works.”

To develop a creation as simple and effective as The Fish Saver, the team prototyped several ideas before settling on and refining their final design. Hunter explained that this process of extensive research and trial and error was essential to her students’ growth as inventors.  

“We talked about the iterative process. We talked about prototyping. We discussed how to survey people, and how to get feedback from them because that's a real-world problem,” she said. “Inventors in the real world must get feedback to understand their users' needs before they put their product out to the masses.” 

Blackstock said that while working to refine the design of the Fish Saver, she learned to embrace mistakes as part of the process. “I realized that we had a lot of different problems and that you learn from your failures,” she explained. “So, you may mess up on one thing, but then if you look over those problems and see what you did wrong, you can learn from what you did and make it right.”

Their creation earned Team Fish Saver honors in Georgia Tech’s K-12 Inventure Prize competition, sponsored by the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics & Computing (CEISMC). The competition encourages elementary, middle, and high school students in the state to present projects that identify real-world problems and design unique solutions. The students attended an awards ceremony at Georgia Tech in March where Team Fish Saver took home second place in the elementary school division.

In addition to the awards ceremony, students participated in hands-on STEM activities including EarSketch and Micro:bit coding, engineering design, and tours of Georgia Tech's Invention Studio. The day of events concluded with the annual Georgia Tech InVenture Prize Live Show at the Ferst Center. The Inventure Prize at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary innovation competition open to all undergraduate students and recent graduates of the Institute.

The visit to campus helped Rippeon change the way she thinks about her future college career. “It made me feel like a grown-up kind of, but also it gave me an idea of what it'll be like when I go to college,” she said. “I could invent things in college if I wanted to, or I could just study and then do it after I get my degree. It made me think a lot more about how many people really are trying to change the world.”

From a teacher’s perspective, Hunter commented that it’s important to stress just how transformational the process was for her students. “The most important thing that the kids learn is that they're inventors,” she said. “Oftentimes we see inventors as people that are a lot older. Maybe they are rich. Maybe they have lots of resources. They're these figures that are kind of out there, but we can't really connect with them. They don't feel real to us. And I just really wanted to teach them to see themselves as inventors and empower them to take risks, innovate, and be agents of positive change.”

Blackstock now has the confidence to try and change the world for the better. “Before this I thought maybe I could do something in my state. Maybe if I was lucky, I could help change the country,” she explained. “But now I know that I can share ideas that can be spread around the world. It could keep growing.”

De Martini believes that it is possible to make big changes in the world and it’s not always so difficult as it might seem. “Look, I just changed the world. I just touched this and there's a fingerprint,” he said. “Before this if someone asked me what my talents were, I would not have put inventing on the list. But after this experience, if I have a few partners, an idea, and the resources to make what it is, then I'm an inventor.”

Team Fish Saver will travel to Michigan in June to compete in the national competition.

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum and competition, visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu or www.k12inventure.org.

—Randy Trammell, K-12 Inventure Prize Communications

Lizanne DeStefano, executive director of the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), is one of the co-principal investigators of this five-year award that will support the collective and coordinated efforts of four other NSF grants awarded to various institutions to address resource allocations, training, operations, and measurement services of the ACCESS program.

“With cyberinfrastructure for academic research computing continuously becoming more sophisticated, it is imperative that we can efficiently connect researchers with the data, technologies, and expertise available to help bring their innovative ideas to fruition,” said DeStefano, also professor of psychology. “Georgia Tech is part of the ACCESS Coordination Office in which our team is responsible for working with all ACCESS awardees to ensure that processes are coordinated, redundancies are reduced, and overall assist them in managing their own evaluation systems, including ours.” 

The OpenCI team, which is being led by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in partnership with CEISMC and the San Diego Supercomputing Center at UC San Diego, will provide tools and support services for the top-level facilitation of governance and communications among the ACCESS awardees and with the public.

These activities include managing the advisory board that is made up of members from the four other projects; assisting in governance and conflict resolution; establishing a system for collective decision-making, and other coordinated community-building activities. The purpose of the OpenCI team is to act as a facilitator to amplify the effect of each ACCESS awardee’s efforts.

“Regularly collecting data, sharing information, and discussing the evidence as a collective is going to be critical to the success of the ACCESS program and all of its components,” said DeStefano. “Since evaluation plays a key role in this process, I hope it will become an important tool for this program to deliver services seamlessly as all the ACCESS service tracks’ interactions determine the type of experience an individual researcher will have.”

ACCESS is a follow-up to NSF’s Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), a virtual organization created in 2011 that integrates and coordinates the sharing of advanced computing resources, data, and expertise with researchers nationally to support science and engineering projects that may not have been possible without the shared resources. For example, researchers at the University of California were able to utilize XSEDE allocations in order to run specific simulations of a pollutant molecule, which led to results with possible implications for the climate, the environment, and human health.  

DeStefano, who has been involved in evaluating cyberinfrastructures for the last 20 years, served as the external evaluator of XSEDE. With her specialty in the evaluation of research organizations, DeStefano described XSEDE operations as a top-down model, one NSF awardee with 19 subcontract recipients which served as a foundation for a national computing ecosystem. Now ACCESS is taking a more peer-driven approach for collaboration and coordination with the five NSF awards, addressing the salient points of the endeavor.   

“XSEDE represented the centralized and coordinated way of allocating research computing services internally which worked well for the last decade,” she said. “Now this external approach of coordinating efforts through a distributed model will provide a new means of establishing shared metrics to better define our effectiveness individually and collectively to guide us forward for maximum impact.”   

Writer: Joëlle Walls

Media Relations Contact: Georgia Parmelee | georgia.parmelee@gatech.edu

This year’s event includes STEM college and career fairs, panel discussions on topics such as innovation and entrepreneurship and women in STEM. An Education Outreach Day will also be held in which Georgia middle and high schools are invited to participate in hands-on STEM activities. Representatives from Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Technology (CEISMC) and STEM@GTRI, Georgia Tech Research Institute’s K-12 outreach program, will be among the exhibitors at this interactive event.

Over 500 general volunteers are needed for a variety of activities during the week, beginning Wednesday, May 4–Friday, May 13. Virtual and in-person, including daytime, evening and weekend shifts are available with on-site training provided.

For more information about volunteering at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, visit: https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/volunteers/.

“We are excited to be a recipient of the BOOST grant as this will allow us to increase our focus on social-emotional learning, expand program access to rural communities, and serve more students and families who have been significantly impacted by the pandemic,” said Sirocus Barnes, CEISMC director of student programs.  “Through this funding, we can continue our strategic partnerships with school districts in the Savannah-Chatham and metro-Atlanta areas to provide high-quality experiential learning experiences outside of the classroom to Georgia’s K-12 students.”

The goal of the BOOST grant program is to provide evidence-based afterschool and summer enrichment programs that target learning acceleration and provide whole child supports, thus removing non-academic barriers to learning for students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding for the BOOST program comes from the American Rescue Plan, and the grant program is administered by the Georgia Department of Education in partnership with the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network (GSAN).

“Here at the Georgia Tech-Savannah campus, we are already putting these funds to use by providing scholarships and transportation to our Saturday programs from two of our partner districts: Bryan and Effingham County schools,” said Timothy Cone, CEISMC Savannah program director. “Over the next three years, the Georgia Tech-Savannah portion of this funding will benefit 800+ students from across Southeast Georgia!”

Horizons at Georgia Tech

The BOOST grant will provide support for Horizons at Georgia Tech, a year-round program that offers academic, cultural, and recreational activities such as swimming lessons to underserved students in the Atlanta area. They begin the program after kindergarten and participate through the first year of high school. On-campus remediation in math and reading is offered in the summer as well as afterschool programs and family engagement events throughout the year.  

Saturday Programs

BOOST funding will also be used for Kids Interested in Discovering STEAM (K.I.D.S.) Club and STEAM Workshops, two Saturday programs hosted monthly at Georgia Tech’s main campus during the school year, and Saturday STEMLabs that take place at Georgia Tech-Savannah. These programs are designed to introduce K-12 students to various topics of science and engineering along with technology, while encouraging them to study and pursue careers in related fields.

During these sessions, students participate in a variety of hands-on activities that promote creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. For example, Dougherty County High School students participating in the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) have already benefited from the BOOST grant. They attended a STEAM Workshop in Atlanta in late January, in which they learned how to code while composing music using EarSketch, a free, web-based platform that teaches coding through music composition.

Summer Activities

The BOOST grant will also support CEISMC’s upcoming Summer Programs for Enrichment and Accelerated Knowledge (P.E.A.K.S.), weeklong on-campus experiences for rising second graders through high school seniors in Atlanta to increase their STEAM knowledge through various educational experiential activities.

“Our programs have a proven track record of increasing students’ interest in STEAM and STEM,” said Barnes. “Through our programs, we provide K-12 students with opportunities to engage with Georgia Tech’s faculty, staff, and students with the goal of exposing these students to leading-edge research and 21st century STEAM and STEM careers.”

Additional information about CEISMC’s Atlanta student programs can be found here and Savannah student programs can be found here.

—James-Addis Hill, CEISMC Communications

In her new book, Make it Relevant: Strategies to Nurture, Develop, and Inspire Young Learners, Dr. King focuses on how educators can become more relevant than ever and excel in the profession by forming deeper emotional bonds with their students.

Published by Scholastic Teaching Resources, the book shows teachers how to have more impact on their students by leaning in, establishing implicit understanding, tackling emotionality, transforming culture, looking around, and creating experiences. Practical strategies, engaging anecdotes, and ready-to-use mini-lessons are also included.

“Educators today often feel out of touch with their students,” King says. “To effectively teach children, teachers must first connect with them and understand them.”

While this book is practical and relevant, it is also very personal, she says. “It is a voice that illustrates what learners need and what little things teachers can do to meet those needs in a big way. Each chapter is intentionally framed with a personal vignette that influenced the idea in the chapter. Within each chapter are practical rituals, routines, and tasks teachers can implement with their own learners.”

King, an Advanced Learning/gifted teacher at Kennesaw Elementary School with 23 years of teaching experience, works with CEISMC as a K-12 InVenture lead teacher. The K-12 InVenture Prize Competition at Georgia Tech encourages elementary, middle, and high school students to present projects that identify real-world problems and design unique solutions.

She has led local student teams to compete at Georgia Tech at the 2021 K-12 InVenture Prize State Competition – Write on and Whole Otter Love. As a CEISMC GIFT (Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers) fellow, she co-wrote K-12 InVenture curriculum for kindergarten and grades 1-3.

"Dr. Valerie King is a treasure to the teaching profession and a tremendously valued member of the K-12 InVenture Prize Community.  It can be challenging for teachers to encourage students to be inventive even at older grade levels, and the way Valerie has shown leadership in defining what it means to teach invention at the K-3 levels is unprecedented, “says Dr. Roxanne Moore, Senior Research Engineer and Director of the K-12 InVenture Prize. “I am so proud of her for writing this book and sharing more of her teaching wisdom and passion.”

King says she hopes the book will inspire educators to dig deep. “My aspiration for this book is that anyone who works with children, both little and big, will see themselves in these pages, recognize and reflect on their intent, and use that personal lens to ensure their learners are nurtured to a sense of belonging, developed to believe in themselves, and inspired to become who they are meant to be,” she says.

“Teaching is equal parts challenge and laughter and reflection and action. There are so many facets of being a teacher and dissecting what really matters is sometimes our greatest hurdle,” King says. “I know this for sure: What matters most in classrooms is building relationships with learners through presence, engagement and humanistic efforts.”

For more information on the K-12 InVenture Prize curriculum and competition, visit https://k12inventure.gatech.edu or www.k12inventure.org.

Excel at Georgia Tech was founded in 2014 by Professor Terry Blum, Tedd Munchak Chair in Entrepreneurship and faculty director for the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (ILE) in the Scheller College of Business. The four-year program is designed as an inclusive postsecondary educational (IPSE) program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Excel students are integrated into many aspects of the undergraduate student experience, and with the support of same-aged peer mentors, they strengthen their independent academic, social, fitness, and cooking skills. Upon completion of the program, students receive two separate certificates: Academic Enrichment, Social Fluency, and Career Exploration; and Social Growth, Leadership, and Career Development. Since inception, the program has been organizationally housed within the ILE, with curriculum and certification support provided by Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE).

The organizational move follows the recommendations of a small institutionalization task force convened by Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Rafael L. Bras in Spring 2019. The task force, chaired by Steven Girardot, associate vice provost for Undergraduate Education, spent several months assessing program objectives and meeting with campus stakeholders including faculty and staff from GTPE, the Scheller College of Business, Student Life and Campus Services, Enrollment Management, Undergraduate Education, CEISMC, and the College of Sciences, as well as members of the Excel Student Advisory Board.

“The task force affirmed that the Excel program is well-established and thriving,” said Bras. “The program is exceptional and has become a part of Georgia Tech’s fabric as an institution. This move to a centralized unit will allow us to best ensure its long-term security, sustainability, and success.”

Excel is one of nine IPSE programs in Georgia and represents one of more than 270 similar programs at colleges and universities across the United States. The first cohort of Excel students began in Fall 2015. As of the last academic term, 38 students were enrolled. In May 2019, seven students received certificates, representing the program’s inaugural graduates. Notably, the program has achieved 100% placement of graduates into employment opportunities, compared to an average of approximately 60% by other programs.

As CEISMC, under the leadership of Executive Director Lizanne DeStefano, takes programmatic and curricular elements of the program, GTPE will continue to contribute to the program’s business operations. While newly aligned organizational operations within CEISMC will commence immediately under a transition plan, a physical move will take place at a later date.

“The Scheller College of Business has been a wonderful home for Excel for the past five years,” said Ken Surdin, director of Excel. “The faculty, staff, and students of the College have been true champions of the program and its students. But the organizational move to CEISMC does present a great opportunity for the future of the program as we look forward.”

This year, 77 teams participated in the competition from all across Georgia and 70 judges participated with live video pitches and a Q&A. On Thursday, Students presented their projects to the judges and the projects were then evaluated based on criteria such as practicality, creativity, marketability and design-based thinking. Each team had their own judging rooms where judges could join in and out of to review all the teams. The synchronous virtual setting allowed for students to receive feedback in real time.

“The students and teachers were absolutely thrilled,” said Jasmine Patel, CEISMC Research Associate, “They loved that they were able to keep the interaction with the judges and to pitch them 'Shark Tank' style.”

On Wednesday, March 17th, the award ceremony followed the event and included keynote speaker, Marques Colston. Colston is a former NFL Super Bowl Champion, and he is now an Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist. The keynote incorporated a pre-recorded inspirational message about Colston’s career experience and the hardships he had to overcome. Colton then followed up with a 20-minute live Q&A.

“[Students] asked amazing questions like: What made you want to become an entrepreneur? What other hardships did you face? Did you encounter racism throughout your career, and how did you overcome that?” said Patel.

Following the keynote, the award ceremony announced the advancement of 38 students to the National Invention Convention & Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) Competition that will be held virtually this summer.

First-place winners from this year's K-12 InVenture Prize competition included team "Yumshies" from East Side Elementary School, team "R.E.C.Y.C.L.E." from Mount Bethel Elementary School, team "Tech Blizzard" from Malcolm Bridge Middle School, and team “Organization of Students for Innovation” from Alan C. Pope High School.

“The students this year had outstanding inventions!” said Patel. “The qualifying students have been notified that they are eligible to participate and will be working on perfecting their video, invention, and poster board.”

Congratulations to the K-12 InVenture Prize winners who will be moving on to the National Competition:

FIRST PLACE K-2 DIVISION

Team: Yumshies

School: East Side Elementary School

Students: Arya Menon

Teacher: Patricia Morrison

SECOND PLACE K-2 DIVISION

Team: Write On

School: Kennesaw Elementary School

Students: Aahana Butani, Penny McDonald, and Helen Morgan

Teacher: Dr. Valerie King

THIRD PLACE K-2 DIVISION

Team: Candy Dispenser Timer

School: Dunwoody Elementary school

Students: Atharva Jethlia

Teacher: Stacy Mandel

FIRST PLACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: R.E.C.Y.C.L.E.

School: Mount Bethel Elementary School

Students: Zoe Diaz, Dylan Merrill, and Mia Rhea

Teacher: Melissa Danner

SECOND PLACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: Turtle-pellant

School: East Side Elementary School

Students: Harper McGinnis

Teacher: Amy Murray

THIRD PLACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: Handicap Heroes

School: Sharp Creek Elementary School

Students: Corey Dollar, AhKil Williams, and Kennedy Cross

Teacher: Anna Ellis

FIRST PLACE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: Tech Blizzard

School: Malcolm Bridge Middle School

Students: Sam Seward and Luke Eley

Teacher: Carolyn Freeman

SECOND PLACE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: KeyWise

School: Malcolm Bridge Middle School

Students: Jack Horn and Ethan Poole

Teacher: Carolyn Freeman

THIRD PLACE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: The Novid

School: Temple Middle School

Students: Mac Pannell, Austin Speer, and Mason Shepherd

Teacher: Adam Scurr

FIRST PLACE HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: Organization of Students for Innovation

School: Alan C. Pope High School

Students: Armon Mighani, Patrick Astorga, and Tate Smith

Teacher: Col Stephen Williams

SECOND PLACE HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: My Skin App

School: Denmark High School

Students: Ameya Jadhav and Sameer Balhara

Teacher: Phil Kinneer

THIRD PLACE TIE HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: LitPad

School: North Oconee High School

Students: Michelle Li, Barnabas Li, and Tianjie Lu

Teacher: Jackson Huckaby

THIRD PLACE TIE HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

Team: A Mechanism to Decrease Rotational Falls in Equestrian Eventing

School: Harrison High School

Students: Liesel Fazekas

Teacher: Paulette Allard

IronCAD AWARD

Team: The Toilet Paper Grab Bar

School: Atlanta International School

Students: Nicky Rea, Jordon Rolley, and AJ Bohanon

Teacher: Neill Ford

MANUFACTURING AWARD

Team: LitPad

School: North Oconee High School

Students: Michelle Li, Barnabas Li, and Tianjie Lu

Teacher: Jackson Huckaby

HEALTH AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Team: Organization of Students for Innovation

School: Alan C. Pope High School

Students: Armon Mighani, Patrick Astorga, and Tate Smith

Teacher: Col Stephen Williams

SUSTAINABILITY AND ENERGY AWARD

Team: Eco-Orbs

School: Walton High School

Students: Cindy Chen and Piper Pearson

Teacher: Amanda Edwards

CONSUMER GOODS AWARD

Team: Whole Otter Love

School: Kennesaw Elementary School

Students: Sami Nichols, Aryan Pour, and Harper Dunkerly

Teacher: Dr. Valerie King

THIRD GRADE HONORABLE MENTION

Team: Kids Face Mask Vending Machine

School: Dunwoody Elementary School

Students: Vikrant Ravi and Dhwanil Dalal

Teacher: Stacy Mendel

By: Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

The GoSTEM program at the Georgia Institute of Technology is hosting the 9th Annual Latino College and STEM Fair on March 17th and 18th, 2021. The virtual bilingual event includes nationally recognized keynote speakers, educational information sessions for middle and high school students, their parents, and the general public. Hands-on STEM workshops are available for schools and community organizations.

"The purpose of the workshops is to engage K-12 students in hands-on and exciting STEM enrichment activities," said CEISMC senior program director Sirocus Barnes. "These programs are designed for students to discover and learn more about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math."

On Saturday, February 20th, CEISMC Student Programs will celebrate Black History Month through the "To the History Makers and Those They Inspire" workshops.

The workshops aim to honor the contributions of Black inventors, scientists, and engineers. By highlighting African-Americans' contributions, students can see themselves represented in the STEAM field.

KIDS Club offers 90-minute sessions for 4th and 5th-grade students. "Celebrating the Art in STEAM – Multi-function Furniture Challenge" session will engage students in activities that explore the work of Sarah E. Goode. Goode was the first African American woman to receive a US patent for her folding cabinet bed invention. The second session, "Fun with Chemistry," will utilize hands-on science experiments to develop science inquiry skills and investigate past and present prominent African American Chemists.

For middle and high school students, STEAM Workshops online offers three workshops to encourage students to explore careers in the STEAM fields. During the 3-hour long sessions, students participate in various activities that promote creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. The "Make a Moon, and Mars Rover Game Using Scratch" workshop uses Scratch visual programming language to encourage students to collect data and carry out scientific studies. Students will learn about prominent NASA Astronaut Victor Glover and Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, the chief engineer at the NASA jet Propulsion Library through coding and programming.

"By developing tangible skills in STEAM, KIDS. Club and STEAM Workshops prepare our participants for the future by helping them expand their 21st-century skills and learn about the future in the STEM workforce," said CEISMC educational outreach manager Roxanne Francis.

The second STEAM workshop, "Fun with Botany Using Micro:Bit – Self-watering Plant Project," anticipates the arrival of Spring by allowing students to code their own self-watering plant. This workshop follows African American Scientists Marie Clark Taylor and George Washington Carver to teach participating students about Micro:Bit and Botany.

The final STEAM Workshop, "Ignite Your Creativity with Adobe Spark," will encourage students to create their own Adobe Spark video perspectives on historically African American figures in STEM. The students will imagine a conversation with African Americans in Computer Science such as Kimberly Bryant, founder of Girls Code, computer scientist, and inventor John Henry Thompson.

"I hope students have an opportunity to explore various areas of STEM with the hope that these sessions will spark an interest in them pursuing STEM post-secondary education and careers," said Barnes.

This month, the "To the History Makers and Those They Inspire" KIDS Club and STEAM Workshops are virtual. To register your student for a workshop, visit Georgia Tech CEISMC Student Programs. 

By Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

Emerald White, an undergraduate in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is making her voice heard through active participation in many different on-campus organizations. Although White attended a high school focused heavily on the fine arts, her interest in robotics and healthcare drew her to STEM. She entered Tech as a biomedical engineering major, motivated by the healthcare inequality present in not only her neighborhood but in many Black and underrepresented minority communities.

“My focus on decreasing the wealth gap in healthcare and making it more accessible for everyone was something that motivated me to go to college,” says White. “I later realized that I could achieve my goals through electrical and computer engineering and also address the energy disparities in minority communities.”

Navigating the First Year

Once at Tech, White found it difficult to identify all the scholarships and financial opportunities available to her as an underrepresented minority student. Coupled with Tech’s reputation as an academically rigorous university, White was concerned that she would not be able to perform as well as her peers since she did not come from a STEM-focused academic background.

“Tech has a reputation for being a difficult school and that made me think that I wasn’t going to do as well as my peers,” says White. “When I came to Tech, I was worried about making good grades my first semester. I was also worried if I would have enough money to finish my first semester, or if I’d have to drop out.”

These worries motivated White to help others who shared her fears. This month, White will serve as a panelist in a webinar for first-generation college students new to Tech so that she can address financial support issues and allay any fears about the college experience. This webinar will discuss what White learned during her own first-year experience, such as accessing financial aid specific to minority populations, finding a community at Tech, and connecting with professors and potential mentors, among other important topics.

The first-gen webinar contains overlap with White’s involvement in the school’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. White finds academic and financial opportunities that many do not know about, or have a low application rate, and shares the information to potential applicants, while also acting as a mentor and helper for those who want to apply for scholarships.

“Working with the council is a reminder that people like me have a home at Tech, and that there are people looking out for me who want me to succeed,” says White. “It gives me a sense of security to know that I’m not alone.”

Diversity and Inclusion in the Lab

The principles of inclusion and diversity extend beyond White’s work with the Council and into her undergraduate research in the Opportunity Research Scholars program.  White works in a lab that focuses on power systems, such as the electrical grid, and creates control algorithms to improve their efficiency and resilience. Much of the lab’s work is centered around finding a way to reduce the risk of failure in these types of systems, as well as increasing their overall output.

“Coming from a low-income minority community, I’ve experienced some of these problems personally, whether it be frequent power outages or outlets not working,” says White. “I know our work in the lab can improve these shortcomings in the system, and through my experiences, I can fill in pieces that they might be missing.”

White’s interest in energy disparity in underrepresented minority communities is what motivated her to switch from biomedical engineering to electrical and computer engineering, and she plans to use her degree to eventually address energy crises.

“I want to assist in the global transition to renewable energy by constructing innovative solutions that integrate scalable sustainable resources into current power infrastructure, such as within well-established natural gas and electrical grid systems,” says White. “By optimizing distributed networks to ensure all energy generated is employed responsibly, I can secure the foundations for the oncoming net-zero emissions era that will inspire wider applications of electrical, wind, and solar power.”

Participation with CEISMC

White also works with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) on their Innovators-in-Residence program, which connects college students in the Atlanta area with K-12 students to teach them hands-on STEM-based projects. One project White participated in focused on discussing the COVID-19 pandemic with elementary school kids so they can have a better understanding of its ramifications like job loss, economic downturn, and health concerns. They also asked the students what they thought might be good measures for stopping disease spread when schools opened again.

“This project wasn’t just ‘color by numbers’ or multiplication tables – it applied something that was going on to these students and discussed it, daring them to be the innovators or the scientists or the researchers,” says White.

White sees active participation in campus programs and college life as a way to make her voice heard and her opinion count.

“These activities make me feel like I’m not just another number sweeping through Tech,” says White.
“I can actually have a hand in Tech’s creation of more inclusive policies and programs aimed towards first-generation and minority students. These populations at Tech can feel more visible to administration and have their concerns heard.”

By Zoe Elledge

Georgia Tech offers the series of free professional development opportunities for Georgia teachers and many Savannah-Chatham teachers have jumped on board.

Fifty teachers participated in the program earlier this year — most were from Garden City and Marshpoint elementary schools and Hesse K-8 school.

In response, the new STEAM Whistle Workshops and the 2020 Horizons Virtual Program were fine-tuned to provide scholars with the chance to stay engaged online over the summer. Both programs provided online instruction for students in a format that reflected past programs that were familiar to them.

The STEAM Whistle Workshops were new weeklong programs implemented over the summer for middle and high school students. Past programs such as the CEISMC Summer PEAKS Program and Savannah Summer Programs inspired the new Workshops. In this program, instructors met with students, provided time for independent project work, and lead hands-on, interactive activities completed at home. A new training process was also introduced to give instructors the necessary tools to deliver quality education.

“We knew that it was very important for us not just that we had student programs to tick off a box and say that we have them,” said Timothy Cone, GT Savannah CEISMC Program Director, “but to offer high quality student experiences still in a virtual environment.”

A Canvas page was provided so all Workshop content was organized for the students. At the end of each day, a 60 to 90-minute breakout session allowed guest speakers to attend, set aside time for students to ask questions, and allowed students to engage with each other.

“Some of our programs such as the Into the Storm Program brought in guest speakers,” Cone stated. “This offered unique opportunities for students to meet individuals that may not be in the Atlanta area or Savannah area.”

The STEAM Whistle Workshops included many unique student workshops. Past workshops featured were Full STEAM Ahead, App and Games, Masters of Science, Artbotics, Data Science, GT GIRLS, Into the Storm, Maker Camp and Micro: Bit. The new workshops were adapted to fit the online format and included Human Powered Generator, Design Own Board Game, Kiragami Paper, Kitchen Chemist, Stop! Go! Animate, Coded Beats, and Moving Art.

GT GIRLS, a collaboration between CEISMC and CEISMC Savannah, featured guest speakers to present examples of women in engineering to the young girls.

Dr. Ellen Mazumdar, Assistant Professor featured at the Diversity Symposium, was one of the guest speakers in this program. The girls that attended the workshops during the week expressed the importance of what they learned from workshop leaders such as Dr. Mazumdar.

“This is important because a lot of young girls don’t understand that they can pursue engineering,” said one GT GIRLS student. “This camp has taught me so much about women empowerment.”

Additionally, the Horizons Virtual Program 2020 was modified to fit the new CEISMC Summer Programs. The Horizons program is designed to encourage students from under-served communities to realize their full potential, and the program is partnered with Centennial Academy, Drew Charter, and Hollis Innovation Academy. Scholars begin the program as rising 1^st graders and stay with the program every summer until 9^th grade.

This summer, the program was reduced to a three-week virtual program that operated daily from 9am – 3pm with scheduled breaks. The Horizons Program included asynchronous and synchronous instruction through google classroom, provided over 120 supply kits, and devices were given out as needed. To keep scholars engaged, every day began with 30 minutes of social time.

“We knew it would be important for them to have an opportunity to continue to build community, so we opened up every class by just 30 minutes of social time,” said Sirocus Barnes, Program Director at CEISMC.

Similar to the Workshops, Horizons provided a two-week long pre-planning Teacher Professional Development (PD). Teachers were given instruction on how to use the virtual learning software, were provided with tech support, and were given guidance on how to speak to scholars about racial injustices and current events.

“We received really great feedback from our teachers,” said Barnes. “A lot of our teachers talked about how the PD that we provided over the summer helped to better prepare them for their return back to school.”

The Horizons Program hosted 10 special events for the scholars that included guest speakers, advice from college admission counselors, and collaborative “field trips.” One collaborative event was the Virtual Dance Party which included a live DJ and was created in collaboration with Horizons Savannah.

In addition to online instruction, Horizons provided over 470 meals over the summer. The meal service surpassed the three-week program and provided meals for seven weeks. Meals were distributed to families at Hollis once a week and included enough meals for the entire week.

Overall, the CEISMC Summer 2020 Student Programs aimed to provide students with quality education online over the summer. The STEAM Whistle Workshops and the Horizons Virtual Program were implemented to meet these goals and worked to reimagine summer learning.

By Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

The AEF Program has been running for 30 years and provides accomplished K-12 educators in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields with the chance to serve in the national education arena. Dr. Lanman will spend eleven months with fourteen other Fellows working in Federal agencies or in U.S. Congressional offices in Washington, D.C.

“Dr. Lanman stood out to me immediately as she has consistently mentored impressive student inventors and has served as a lead teacher,” said Roxanne Moore, Director of K-12 InVenture Prize. “We are so proud to have her advocating for STEM and invention and entrepreneurship education at the federal level.”

With her work as a legislative team member for Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Dr. Lanman is focusing on STEM education and STEM workforce development.

“I’ve long believed that STEM should be accessible to every student, not just the highest achievers,” said Dr. Lanman. “We need to build flexible pathways that allow our students to receive the education, training, and certifications needed to join the STEM workforce.

All 2020-2021 Einstein Fellows come with diverse STEM teaching backgrounds from K-12 schools around the United States. The Fellows will provide the Federal agencies and U.S. Congressional offices with insight of real-world experiences within the classroom. Additionally, the Fellows will learn the role of the Federal Government in education, gain knowledge of resources available to students and educators, and gain a broader understanding of national education.

Sponsors of the AEF Program currently include the Department of Energy (DOE), the Library of Congress (LOC), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWC Carderock). The Program is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists in collaboration with the sponsoring agencies and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). ORISE is a DOE institute designed to strengthen scientific initiatives through independent peer reviews.

Past AEF Program Fellows have made monumental contributions including designing new parts of national STEM education programs, initiating collaborations and partnerships with Federal agencies, and drafting legislation in order to improve K-12 education in the United States.

“Invention and entrepreneurship education give students the skills and confidence to try something completely different and to be their own boss,” said Dr. Lanman.

By the end of the Program, Dr. Lanman and other Fellows will return equipped with access to a national network of education leaders, a deeper understanding of STEM education, and a preparedness to make new contributions to their schools and school districts.

Established in 2017, The PEARC Conference provides participants in the research computing community with a chance to discuss challenges, opportunities, and unique solutions regarding education and computing industries. By building off of the success of the past, the PEARC conference aims to grow to be more inclusive to fit the interest of the developing community.

Attendees of the conference include students, researchers, scientists, systems professionals and more. In the past, PEARC17 hosted 581 attendees, PEAR18 hosted 639 attendees, and PEARC20 hosted 1,000 attendees online this July.

Each year, the conference focuses on broad themes. Past themes have included “Seamless Creativity” and “Sustainability, Success and Impact” which aim to meet the needs of the computing community. With her new position, Rivera hopes to incorporate her 10 years of research experience to meet the goals of the 2022 event. Rivera has noticed the need for research computing professionals and hopes to look toward equity and inclusion as a critical solution.

“I am also very committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion which I and my co-chair, Julie Wernert, plan to make a central component of this conference,” said Rivera.

As General Co-Chair, Rivera will oversee all activity of the Conference Committee. Additional responsibilities include serving as a member of the PEARC Steering Committee, communicating between the Conference Committee and the Steering Committee, and ensuring that conference activities are correctly planned and implemented.

“On a personal level I look forward to gaining experience in planning an event of this size and scope,” said Rivera. “More broadly, I look forward to helping the community grow in meaningful ways to better address critical issues.”

Overall, the conference will aim to approach current and future industry challenges through evidence-based solutions and will build on current discussions regarding diversity and inclusion.

PEARC21 is currently planning the 2021 event to bring the computing community back together. Visit the PEARC website to follow up on updates and future events.

By Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

The Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion publication of the "Faces of Inclusive Excellence" recognizes faculty, staff, and students who have earned special recognition in research, teaching, or service at Georgia Tech during the previous academic year. Honorees are acknowledged for their service in advancing a culture of inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech.

Analía Rao, Research Associate at the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), has been recognized as a 2020 honoree. Along with being a Research Associate at CEISMC, Analía is applauded for her accomplishments as a graduate of the Inclusive Leaders Academy, 2020, and for completing both levels of Level Up: An Advanced Allyship Course, offered by the LGBTQIA Resource Center.

"I am humbled by this recognition and truly honored to be a part of a community committed to creating an inclusive environment for all," said Rao.

Rao is currently serving on the leadership team of the HOLA Employee Resource Group (ERG), and this is her second time being honored as a “Faces of Inclusive Excellence” recipient.

“At no time is it more important for us to take extra effort to learn about diversity and implement inclusive practices in the workplace and in our daily lives,” said Dr. Lizanne Stephano, Executive Director of CEISMC. “Well done, Analia!”

In past publications, additional CEISMC staff members have been recognized as “Faces of Inclusive Excellence” recipients. Dr. Meltem Alemdar, Associate Director for Educational Research & Evaluation, has also been an honoree in more than one publication.

Dr. Alemdar is noted for leading and coauthoring numerous K-12- focused academic papers as well as appearing as a keynote speaker at the National Science Foundation’s Noyce Summit in July 2019.

Along with Dr. Alemdar, Sirocus Barnes, and Diley Hernandez were recognized in the 2017 publication for their work in diversity and inclusion. Sirocus Barnes, Program Director at CEISMC, is honored for leading the Horizons program to encourage students from low-income families to realize their full potential. Diley Hernandez, Senior Research Scientist at Georgia Tech, was recognized for leading efforts in growing the GoSTEM program and dedicating time to progress Georgia Tech’s commitment to Hispanic and Latino STEM education.

In the following year, Dr. Stephano, and Shaheen Rana, former Research Associate at CEISMC, were recognized in the 2018 publication of “Faces of Inclusive Excellence.”

Dr. Stephano was specifically noted for her selection as an inaugural member of the National Science Foundation’s STEM Education Advisory Panel, and Rana was mentioned for her work in leading the evaluation of the GoSTEM program at CEISMC.

Lastly, the 2019 publication of “Faces of Inclusive Excellence” featured four CEISMC staff members, Marion Usselman, Dr. Alemdar, Rana, and Rao. The honorees were recognized at the 11^th Annual Diversity Symposium. The event explored the progress with diversity at Georgia Tech and followed the theme, “Georgia Tech’s Racial Diversity Journey: Recognizing Our Past, Exploring Our Future, and Charting Our Future.”

Marion Usselman, Associate Director for Development and Educational Innovation, was a first-time recipient in 2019 and was recognized for her strides in STEM outreach. Usselman has worked with many CEISMC programs including the Culturally Authentic Practice to Advance Computation Thinking in Youth (CAPACiTY) program and the National Science Foundation (NSF) program. Additionally, Usselman is recognized as the coauthor of “Paving the Road into College and STEM for Latino Students,” a Journal of STEM Outreach.

Over the years, "Faces of Inclusive Excellence" has documented the Georgia Tech faculty's diverse accomplishments and has honored many CEISMC staff members for their strides in creating an inclusive community. Georgia Tech’s CEISMC continues to develop programs and conduct research that reflects a commitment to advancing the inclusive environment at Georgia Tech.

By Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

This article specifically highlights program evaluation, rather than the more general domain of evaluation. The paper provides examples of how frameworks are defined within the field and for organizations and associations.

By: Meltem Alemdar, Ph.D., Associate Director, Principal Research Scientist, Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
Christopher Cappelli, MPH, Senior Research Associate, Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

It was in the context of that last detail that ISyE reached out to Caldwell, who enthusiastically agreed to share – among other topics – his thoughts on how his Ecuadorian family has shaped his personal values, what it’s like to be a Hispanic STEM student at the Institute, and the impact of GT-SHPE on his college experience. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

We are in a time where conversations around the experiences of people of color are being rightfully foregrounded. What thoughts have you had about this cultural moment?

Our nation has not only grappled with a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting minority communities, but we also have been repeatedly shocked by instances of police brutality that are just a glimpse of what the Black community in the U.S. regularly faces. The dire need for social action is inescapable.

Yet I look ahead, feeling both challenged and optimistic. More than ever before, people are awakening to these perpetual injustices – although the reluctance to make substantive change and “what about-isms” unfortunately has been quick to follow. I personally wish to work toward making this moment a catalyst for a focused movement that is built for the long-term. Our generation has a momentous calling to funnel innovation and conscience into needed social change.

Tell us about your background and family origin. How has being of Ecuadorian extraction impacted your life?

My parents met in the small town of Sucúa, Ecuador. My mother, a town resident, was a waitress, and my father was a Peace Corps volunteer from the U.S. Both struggled with jobs that paid less than minimum wage, and they moved to the U.S. with few financial resources and big dreams of being able to support their family. Raised traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Ecuador, I was deeply molded to value the integrity of community and the significance of culture; this truly informed the ambitions I have and the value I hold for serving others. I am thankful for a heritage that has inspired me to spark innovation for the underserved and to never lose sight of la familia’s profound importance.

What would you like the ISyE and larger Georgia Tech communities to know about being a Hispanic student at the Institute?

I am so grateful for the way our Institute not only values diversity and supports our Latinx/Hispanic community but also amplifies our voices and unlocks opportunities for us to advance with confidence through the Office of Hispanic Initiatives, the Office of Minority Education, and other core initiatives at Tech. There are certainly barriers and stereotypes that have posed challenges throughout my college journey. At the same time, I still face biased perceptions around my very presence in STEM and have been kept out of internships, organizations, and professional opportunities simply for not having a more traditional background and “fit.”

Fortunately, ISyE and the broader Tech community have forged a culture that embraces differences and truly sets the tone for leading with diversity. Now in my third year, I look back at having been selected for the pilot Freshman Diversity Leaders Internship with McKinsey & Company as a testament to Georgia Tech’s leadership on this front, as it was one of the few schools in the U.S. to be part of this launch propelling top diverse students.

When did you get involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and how has the organization contributed to your college experience?

I got involved with GT-SHPE my very first semester at Georgia Tech, and it has honestly been a transformative experience. I find GT-SHPE to be an organization that is unique in the different experiences it offers students, both professionally and socially. I have had a chance to be involved with everything from our Mini World Cup, singing for the Taste of Latin America (an event showcasing Hispanic culture for all students), being a PEP mentor, and – currently – serving as external vice president. GT-SHPE is a place where I have truly felt at home, with people who resonate with my background and connect on shared interests and passions.

As the second largest collegiate SHPE chapter in the U.S., we now have 340 members. Having raised about $40,000 just this semester to fund all programmatic activities, it has been immensely rewarding for me to lead our corporate relations and events, national convention, and professional experience program. This is a community I have been able to lean on and grow with, and in return, it is one I wish to propel further so each member can achieve their dreams.

Tell us more about PEP.

PEP stands for our Professional Experience Program. At its core, PEP is an opportunity for motivated students – PEPies – to be individually paired with older students – PEPos – who serve as mentors. This program is extremely actionable and provides a phenomenal outlet for students (particularly first-years) to transition into Georgia Tech with a gust of wind in their sails. As part of the program, students participate in everything from workshops on resume writing and personal brand building to learning how to navigate all aspects of their Georgia Tech journey. PEPies are encouraged and equipped to believe in their exciting potential as Hispanic students at Georgia Tech.

For me, it’s full-circle to have been a PEPo last year and now to be leading the program of 50 or so students. These one-on-one interactions that take place through the program are some of the most meaningful to me.

Anything final thoughts?

I believe that an integral part of the narrative of future innovation is being written by the ideas that receive venture capital backing, yet with funding only going to 9% women, 1% Black, and 2% Latinx founders, there is a glaring need to improve entrepreneurial diversity.

At the start of this school year, I connected with local VCs, entrepreneurs, and Institute program directors to share my idea for a Georgia Tech-based, student-run VC that would specifically support underrepresented minority student founders. I am currently in the process of building this fund, Futuro Ventures, with support from CREATE-X leadership. If you are a student, faculty member, or alum interested in learning more either about the funding or operating side, feel free to reach out to me!

Published by - Shelley Wunder-Smith
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

The current pandemic has made many programs and groups rethink how they operate and provide services to their communities. In the last few months, GoSTEM has been making inroads into this issue by rethinking and redefining how it supports and offers programming to Latino families in Atlanta during this difficult time. As part of its community outreach, the program has launched a new virtual seminar series titled, "Family Talks/ Charlas en Familia." The series provides information and resources to Latino families from community members and experts. It is an opportunity to share positive practices, advice, and tips on various educational topics. The series aims to increase support to the Latino community, which is disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.    

The Collaborative Research Broadening Participation of LatinX Students in Computer Science by Integrating Culturally Relevant Computational Music Practices, called "REMEZCLA" by project members, will directly address the lack of representation of LatinX and Spanish-speaking students in computer science. This NSF-funded project will expand middle and high school students' STEM engagement and opportunities within both the continental United States and Puerto Rico. The creative approach will teach code and music composition by designing, implementing, and assessing a new informal learning curriculum. 

Diley Hernandez from Georgia Tech and Rafael Arce-Nazario from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras will serve as the project's principal investigators. They will work alongside Georgia Tech co-principal investigators Douglas Edwards and Jason Freeman, and co-principal investigator Joseph E. Carroll Miranda from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. "For years, Georgia Tech has made significant efforts to improve access and STEM preparation for Georgia Latinx students through the GoSTEM program,” said Hernandez, a senior research scientist with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). “With REMEZCLA, we can capitalize on these years of experience and design a product for Latinx students that can expand across the United States and beyond. We will be creating a curriculum designed with them in mind that embraces the messy and unique complexity of our cultures. Students will be able to bring those assets and celebrate who they are in the process of musical creation through coding.” 

This inclusive computer science curriculum will encourage students to establish connections to their own cultures, communities, and lived experiences. The lessons use culturally relevant pedagogical practices that allow students meaningful engagement while acquiring computational thinking skills. “The word remezcla, the Spanish term for “remix”, refers to the combination and mixing of cultural forms and artifacts like music into something different, new and unique. This is a process that lies at the core of Latin culture both musically and culturally. So, musical remixing is not merely an inter-disciplinary art form that allows people to be creative, but also a culturally authentic way to engage students in learning” shared Hernandez. 

“Diversity and inclusion thrive through REMEZCLA by allowing LatinX students to engage in STEM by using culturally relevant musical expressions that introduce young minds to computer science curriculum and careers,” said Archie Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “This is reflective of the wonderfully innovative and collaborative spirit that characterizes Georgia Tech.”  

"Researchers will use a mixed-method design for data collection that includes surveys, interviews, focus groups, and computational products created by students," said Edwards, a CEISMC senior research associate. "Components implemented in the program in both Atlanta and Puerto Rico will study the impact on students' computational skills, content knowledge, and other psycho-social factors like computer science identity. The results will inform the future of culturally relevant computer science education programs for LatinX and Spanish speaking youth." 

Another significant aspect of this project will be the adaptation of the Georgia Tech-developed music platform, EarSketch, making it culturally and linguistically accessible to Latinx students. 

The redesign of the EarSketch music platform will include the ability to switch between Spanish and English easily. The platform will incorporate new beats and sounds representative of traditional and contemporary Latin musical genres. This way, students will learn how to code and reprogram music using a culturally inclusive technology and create musical compositions connected to stories of their community and heritage. 

Freeman, chair of the Georgia Tech School of Music and co-creator of EarSketch, said his team would collaborate with diverse cultural groups to ensure the curricular content is valid and culturally equivalent across Latinx students and sites. "The informal learning program will be implemented as a semester-long afterschool program in six schools per year, in Atlanta and Puerto Rico, and twice during the summer as a one-week summer camp," said Freeman.  

"The vast majority of Puerto Rico's public schools do not have computer science classes. This project fits perfectly into our University's ongoing efforts to insert computational thinking into K-12, especially since it highlights its creative aspect.” said Arce-Nazario, “I am excited that musical expression will be the vehicle for middle and high-school students to learn the fun and useful skills of computational thinking." 

"It is exciting to examine the impact of culturally authentic tools and practice to increase Latinx students' interest and achievement in coding through music," said CEISMC executive director, Lizanne DeStefano. "We cannot wait to see what the students produce!" 

### 

National Science Foundation (NSF) Award # 2005791 - “Collaborative Research Broadening Participation of Latinx Students in Computer Science by Integrating Culturally Relevant Computational Music Practices” 

The GIFT program, coordinated by the Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), provides STEM immersion internships for K-12 teachers designed to help educators gain skills to expand students' minds and encourage them to pursue post-secondary careers in the STEM fields.

"With it expanded emphasis on rural communities, Georgia Tech, through GIFT continues to provide unique professional development opportunities for teachers," said Lizanne DeStefano, CEISMC executive director.

During the four-week program, Mark was able to complete her virtual remote learning experience in technical and education opportunities using fluid power mechanics and their functions in industrial settings. She learned how to analyze and troubleshoot hydraulic pumps, actuators, flow control and check valves, and pressure control valves. She expressed her appreciation to South Georgia Technical College and Owen for mentoring her.

She will now take the knowledge and experience that she learned and share it with her Macon County High School physics, chemistry, and physical science classes. She will incorporate hands-on activities utilizing hydraulics, hydraulics in Circuits, and the effect of pressure on hydraulics systems. "The students will be able to see these types of educational concepts in practice," said Mark. "By sharing with students how and why this information is important and how theory works in the real world, I believe it will help them learn and retain knowledge."

Mark completed an online course embedded with virtual instructions by working for at least eight hours a day, which included developing a lesson plan utilizing her newly acquired knowledge. She met with Owen in his Industrial Systems classroom and laboratory. Mark also participated in GIFT internships at South Georgia Technical College twice before. She worked with a retired Industrial Systems Technology instructor, Phil Deese, where she learned about the parts, functions, and developing programs for robots. She also helped implement STEM programs with middle school students.

During her second summer internship, she participated in virtual labs. She learned how to incorporate safety protocols, worked with AC/DC electrical systems using electrical measurements made with galvanometers. She also explored Ohm's Law, measured voltage, current, and resistance in series and parallel circuits did circuit analysis and learned about inductance, and capacitance.

Having participated in those prior summer internships, Mark was eligible to compete for GIFT awards honoring teachers who had developed and implemented outstanding lesson plans based on their internship experiences. Mark was awarded the 2020 third-place Paul A. Duke GIFT Action Plan Award for the lesson she developed as a required assignment of the fellowship.

Mark believes her participation in GIFT has helped increase the number of Macon County students enrolling at South Georgia Technical College and other colleges and universities. She sees improvements in critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which improve her students' SAT, ACT, science scores on end of course milestones. Her schools' college and career ready performance index also increased.

"The fields of science and engineering are mutually supportive, and scientists and engineers often work together in teams, especially in fields at the borders of science and engineering," said Mark. "Together, advances in science, engineering, and technology can have – and indeed have had – profound effects on human society in such areas as agriculture, transportation, health care, and communication and on the natural environment."

"Mrs. Mark is the type of teacher who goes above and beyond to enhance her own knowledge so that she can further inspire her students. It is an honor to support her. We welcome being able to collaborate with South Georgia Technical College to provide these opportunities." said Bonnie Harris, GIFT program director.

More information about the Georgia Tech Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) Program can be found at https://ceismc.gatech.edu/gift or contact The GIFT program director, Bonnie Harris (bonnie.harris@ceismc.gatech.edu).

Students from Atlanta, Gwinnett, and Clayton County Public Schools arrived on the Georgia Tech campus in the early afternoon and were greeted by Mir Jeffres, a student from the Georgia Tech Music Technology Program.

After, the students attended five unique breakout workshops to engage in STEAM activities and learn first-hand from Georgia Tech faculty and community professionals. The first workshop, Making Video from Music, was led by Cycling ’74 members Prof. Adam Rokshar and Ashley Bellouin. The workshop taught students how to make eye-catching visuals that automatically reacted to their music using the provided materials and interactive media software, Max.

Workshops two through five were presented by GoSTEAM teachers and GoSTEAM Innovators in Residence. The workshops included EarSketch on Coding and Composing, Electronic Musical Instrument Design using Micro-Bits, Prototyping Puppets and Storytelling, and Touch Boards and Audio Engineering.

Later, Prof. Adam Roksar spoke to the workshop attendees about his background in Music Technology. Prof. Rokshar is currently a Music Technology faculty member from New York University (NYU). In the past, he has worked with companies such as Converse, Microsoft, Ableton, and Splice where he has utilized his skills as a musician, animator, and programmer.

GoSTEAM partnered with Prof. Jason Freeman from the Georgia Tech School of Music which allowed students to attend the Art, Music, and Technology fair following the keynote presentation. The fair gave students the opportunity to experience groundbreaking art and technology projects and discuss interactive projects with creators.

To conclude the event, the participating students had the opportunity to attend the Margaret Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition, where music technology innovators from around the world showcased their original musical instruments. GoSTEAM Program Directors, Sabrina Grossman, and Analía Rao were invited on stage to discuss the GoSTEAM Program and the STEAM Innovation Workshop that took place earlier in the day in the context of Guthman.

Finalists were paired with a skilled Atlanta musician to present their instruments in a one-of-kind Concert performance for an audience of all ages. One of those musicians was GoSTEAM Teacher, Mr. Shannon Ladson, from Kemp Elementary School who performed on stage with one of the finalists of the competition.

Summer Teacher Workshops

GoSTEAM K-12 teachers come from both the technical and art domains, and they actively collaborate to create innovative STEAM programs and activities for their students. During a normal summer, GoSTEAM teachers come to the Georgia Tech campus to share what they have done in their classrooms, to learn new skills, to brainstorm new STEAM innovations, and to plan for the upcoming year. Due to Covid-19, the 2020 professional development was shifted online to BlueJeans. Teachers met daily for 3 weeks in June with the whole group as well as in smaller collaborative groups.

GoSTEAM teachers created instruments with "Micro:bits" and puppets using LEDs and buzzers; they explored issues of social justice, and voice and choice; and they designed assessment plans for their classroom innovations. They also teamed up to create video performances featuring musical instruments, poetry, singing, drama, social commentary, and humor.  One, titled “I Need Coffee”, can be viewed at https://b.gatech.edu/2ODMemq. While melding engineering and computer science with art, music, and drama, the goal of the summer was to energize the teachers and to introduce them to new strategies and technologies.

*The GoSTEAM Program is a 5-year partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology and schools in the metro-Atlanta area to create model STEAM PreK-12 programs that focus on Computer Science and Engineering and that incorporate the arts (including Fine Arts, Media Arts, Theater Arts, and Music) in authentic and compelling ways that promote positive STEAM identity.

By Shannon Malone - CEISMC Communications

The Teacher Innovator Awards is hosted by Henry Ford's Innovation Nation. It is a show on CBS that celebrates inventors by showcasing the stories and passion behind the world's greatest inventions. The competition selects 10 grand prize winners and 10 first-place winners from across the United States. The award winners include teachers who exhibit characteristics of an innovator and challenge students to take risks.

Varnedoe and other Grand Prize winners received a $1500 gift card for classroom supplies and other educational materials and services.

As an educator, Varnedoe has made it a goal to provide an environment that encourages students to think critically, establish confidence, and develop skills as independent learners. She provides a framework and curriculum that allows students to understand real-world problems and respond with unique solutions.

In addition to being an educator, Varnedoe was one of the teachers who piloted the K12 InVenture Prize with the elementary age group. She has served as a Lead Teacher for the program. This year, Varnedoe led 3rd place winners "Lightning Shock Sticker Sensor" from the elementary division. In 2018, Varnedoe coached a team that placed first at the National Invention Convention & Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE).

"The K12 InVenture Prize's mission is to create the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs by making invention education accessible to all students and teachers in Georgia," said Roxanne Moore, Director of the K12 InVenture Prize. "Julia has been a leader in making that dream a reality by sharing so much time, energy, and talent with our program."

To further illustrate the success of the Georgia Tech K12InVenture Prize facilitated by the Georiga Tech Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing, two of the competition's winning student teams advanced to the 2020 Invention Convention U.S. Nationals. Marc Van Zyl, a student at McIntosh High School, placed 2nd for "Cloud Internet-of-Things Spirometer for COPD Patients" in the 9th-grade division. Bridgette Castronovo and Taylor McNeal of Harrison High School won 3rd place for the 10th-grade division for their "Biodegradable Straws" invention.

"As a Lead Teacher with Georgia Tech K12 InVenture Prize, Julia has delivered professional development to hundreds of teachers throughout Georgia. She spearheaded curriculum development efforts, and has mentored student inventors all the way to the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals," said Moore.

Before becoming an educator, Varnedoe received a B.S. in Communication from Florida State University and an MBA from Stetson University. She began her career as a marketing professional. 20 years later, she became a teacher after obtaining certificates in Early Elementary Education, Special Education, Business Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Art Education. Varnedoe has taught at Mount Bethel Elementary School for the past 11 years as a Gifted Education Specialist for grades 3-5.

By: Shannon Malone – CEISMC Communications

“I am so impressed with the efforts of CEISMC staff who quickly responded to transform our innovative Summer PEAKS on-campus programming into wonderful, engaging on-line programming. While we are eager to bring students back on campus as soon as we safely can, STEAM Whistle Workshops provides a great alternative for students across the state of Georgia,” said Lizanne DeStefano, Executive Director, CEISMC at Georgia Tech.

"For some of the youth, our programs are their first experience with computer science or integrating Art in STEM," said Sirocus Barnes, Director of Student Programs at CEISMC. "It was important for us to continue to provide these high quality and engaging programs," said Barnes. "With the virtual programming this summer, we can now have connections with youth across our entire state and beyond from home."

To adjust to the online format, CEISMC has shifted to a blended learning environment where students can attend virtual lectures as well as build, design, and program projects. The new format allows students to gain meaningful experience through virtual experiments in small groups with custom guidance.

"As students across Georgia are already spending a great deal of time in a virtual learning environment, we wanted to place emphasis on ensuring the programs could still have that fun camp environment while offering enrichment-based learning experiences," said Tim Cone, Program Director for CEISMC at the Georgia Tech Savannah campus.

The programs offered this summer provide a variety of options for middle school students interested in STEAM learning. These programs include Mobile App and Game development, Moving Art, Full STEAM Ahead, Coded Beats, and GT GIRLS. A new session has been added for July titled "Maker Camp : Game Creation" for student in grades 4th - 6th.

Mobile App and Games use Construct 3 to teach the basics of applications and game creation on mobile and computer platforms. Moving Art bridges the gap between art and engineering by encouraging students to integrate the five-step Engineering Design Process into each unique project. 

The Coded Beats session teaches music production skills and computer coding skills using the Python programming language. GT GIRLS (Girls Interested in Rapidly Learning STEAM) courses use virtual hands-on activities and experiments to introduce young female scholars to exciting STEAM careers.

To engage an older audience, the STEAM Whistle Workshops offer high school students Seth Bonder Data Science and Into the Storm. The Seth Bonder Data Science workshop is designed for high school students interested in engineering who have no or minimal background in data science and computer programming. Into the Storm guides students in exploring the physics behind the formation of severe weather events in the atmosphere.  

Registration is currently open for June and July session. Visit the CEISMC STEAM Whistle Workshop website for more details regarding individual sessions and how to register.

By Shannon Malone - CEISMC Communications