STEM Role Models

Students Experience the Field Trip of a Lifetime at the X-STEM Symposium!

carlyo — Fri, 01 May 2015 16:12:46 +0000

Students Experience the Field Trip of a Lifetime at the X-STEM Symposium!

This past Tuesday, over 3,500 students, in grades 6-12, traveled to the Washington D.C. Convention Center to engage in presentations and hands-on workshops from some of the most creative and inspiring minds in STEM at the 2nd X-STEM Symposium. Sponsored by MedImmune, the X-STEM Symposium featured over 30 speaker presentations from advanced luminaries in STEM fields such as Dean Kamen, Inventor and Founder of FIRST; Dr. Aprille Ericsson from NASA; Dr. Irwin Jacobs, Founder of Qualcomm to young up and coming innovators like 13 year old Alyssa Carson, AKA the NASA Blueberry and 19 year old Easton LaChappelle, inventor of the robotic arm.

Visionaries Dr. Irwin Jacobs from Qualcomm, Dr. Anthony Fauci from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NASA Blueberry Alyssa Carson, Dr. James McLurkin from Rice University & Ben Gulak from BPG Motors

The Festival team would like to thank all of the X-STEM Speakers and Workshop Organizations for their enthusiastic commitment to our STEM Education outreach efforts. We also appreciate the support of our X-STEM Sponsor MedImmune, the many Festival Volunteers who helped make the event a great success and of course thank you to the student and teacher attendees for realizing the importance of connecting to STEM professionals and participating in hands-on workshops.

View photos of the event here on Facebook as well as here on Flickr.

Stay tuned to our newsletter, website and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google + & LinkedIn) for updates on the 2016 X-STEM Symposium!

carlyo Fri, 05/01/2015 - 12:12

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STEM Education

USA Science & Engineering Festival

X-STEM

Alyssa Carson

Celebrating African American History Month with Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: George Washington Carver

carlyo — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:32:19 +0000

Celebrating African American History Month with Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver – Botanist, Inventor and Educator

One of the most phenomenal scientists of the early 20th Century. He found amazing uses for the peanut, sweet potato and soy bean that continue to enrich our lives. And against racial obstacles, his achievements paved the way for generations of young African American scientists

The ultimate agricultural botanist and chemist, George Washington Carver, from his early years, was known for his curiosity and his "burning zeal to know everything", especially about nature. He soon became fascinated with how to use botany and other sciences to create products that would benefit the economic and agricultural productivity of poor black farmers– a goal that would ultimately set him on a path to make history as the scientist who created so many products that continue to benefit the world.

Born in 1864 to Mary and Giles, a slave couple, near Diamond, Missouri, George (with his mother and sister) was kidnapped by raiders from Arkansas, but was rescued by his master Moses Carver, who traded a horse to the raiders in exchange for the infant George's release. After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Moses Carver and his wife took care of George and his brother James, like their own.

George became interested in practical botany and gardening at a very early age. He used to spend hours tending to the Carvers' garden, and developed a reputation as a 'plant doctor' in Diamond Grove. Speaking about his love for nature, he later said, "If you love it enough, anything will talk to you."

He went through a trying childhood, since very few schools and colleges at the time accepted black students. George was once accepted in a college on the back of his excellent grades, but was refused admission when the college administration came to know about his race. He earned his diploma at Minneapolis High School, and would later complete college training in botany in Iowa.

Why He's Important: Through his tireless research, most of it conducted as a scientist and teacher at the all-black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, George discovered 118 products from the sweet potato, 75 products from pecans, and over 350 uses for peanuts, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, soaps, rubber, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin.

Through his inventions, he was instrumental in creating new markets for farmers. In addition, the crop rotation methods formulated by him are considered by some historians as his most significant achievement because they saved the Southern lands from becoming barren, benefiting both black and white farmers. The 19th century American economy was primarily agrarian, and much depended on the unhindered production of cotton.

Other Achievements: George was hired in 1896 by Booker T. Washington ( the famous black educator and leader who founded the Tuskegee Institute) as a faculty member and researcher in Tuskegee's Agricultural Department. George reinvigorated the fledgling Institute, and carried on his research there for the next 47 years, becoming a role model for countless young black students. (In accepting the position at Tuskegee, it is said that Carver turned down an invitation from inventor Thomas Edison to come work for him.)

Carver's expertise was also sought by such luminaries of the day as President Teddy Roosevelt (who admired his work and sought his advice on agricultural matters in the United States), Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi (whom Carver advised on agriculture and nutrition) and Henry Ford (with whom he collaborated with on developing alternative fuel from soybeans for the automobile and rubber from various plants).

He is the recipient of numerous honors, including a national monument erected in 1943 in Diamond, Missouri—the site of the plantation where he lived as a child – in his honor. This was the first national monument dedicated to an African-American. In 2005, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis opened the George Washington Carver garden, which includes a life-size statue of the garden's famous namesake.

Education: He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Botany from Iowa State University School of Agriculture.

In His Own Words: In explaining why, despite his many famous inventions, he only accepted patents for just three of his products, he said his ideas and inventions were a gift from God. "God gave [the ideas] to me. How can I sell them to someone else?" he explained.

Carver died on January 5, 1943. He had donated his entire life savings -- $60,000 (more than one million dollars in 2012 terms) -- to the Carver Museum and the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee Institute.

carlyo Mon, 02/03/2014 - 14:32

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Role Models in Science & Engineering

African American Scientist

Black History Month

George Washington Carver

USA Science & Engineering Festival

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Gerty Theresa Cori!

carlyo — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 17:46:15 +0000

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Gerty Theresa Cori!

Gerty Theresa Cori -- Biochemist

Often considered one of the greatest women scientists of the 20th century. The first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine; known for her discovery (with husband Carl Cori and physiologist Bernardo Houssay) of how the body metabolizes glucose

Born Gerty Theresa Radnitz in 1896 in Prague (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Czech Republic), Gerty grew up at a time when women were marginalized in science and allowed few educational opportunities. However, at age sixteen and influenced by her uncle, (who was a professor of pediatrics at the University of Prague), Gerty decided to study medicine. She graduated with a medical doctor's degree in 1920.

It was at medical school that she met her future husband Carl Ferdinand Cori, who was also a med student at her school. Upon their graduation in 1920, they married.

Because of deteriorating conditions in Europe, the couple emigrated to the United States in 1922. Gerty Cori continued her early interest in medical research, collaborating in the laboratory with Carl. She published research findings coauthored with her husband, as well as publishing singly. Unlike her husband, she had difficulty securing research positions, and the ones she obtained provided meager pay. Her husband insisted on continuing their collaboration, though he was discouraged from doing so by the institutions that employed him.

Why She's Important: Often considered one of the most influential female scientists of the 20th century, Gerty Cori -- with her husband Carl and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay -- received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for the discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen (a derivative of glucose) is broken down in muscle tissue into lactic acid and then re-synthesized in the body and stored as a source of energy --known as the Cori cycle. Their findings were particularly useful in the development of treatments for diabetes.

With the Nobel honor, Gerty became the third woman—and first American woman—to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

She and her husband also identified the important catalyzing compound, the Cori ester. In 2004, both Gerty and Carl Cori were designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark in America, recognition of their work in clarifying carbohydrate metabolism.

Other Achievements: In 1952, President Harry S. Truman named her to the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation.

In addition, Gerty received many other honors and awards during her life. Among them: the American Chemical Society Award; the Squibb Award in endocrinology, and the Sugar Research Prize of the National Academy of Sciences. She received honorary degrees from Smith College, Yale University and Rochester University. She was also one of twelve women honored at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. in 1949, at ceremonies of the first medical degree bestowed on a woman.

In the summer of 1947, she started to feel the symptoms of Myelofibrosis, a rare disease of the bone marrow. For ten years she continued her work, suffering with pain and refusing to stop her laboratory activities. On October 26, 1957, she died of kidney failure.

The famous newscaster, Edward R. Murrow, eulogized her dedication, intellectual integrity, courage and professionalism in her pursuit for answers in biochemistry. In addition, The Cori crater on the Moon is named after her.

Click here to read the stories of more Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement from the USA Science & Engineering Festival.

carlyo Tue, 01/28/2014 - 12:46

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Role Models in Science & Engineering

USA Science & Engineering Festival

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Nikola Tesla!

carlyo — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 17:04:19 +0000

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Nikola Tesla!

Nikola Tesla -- Electrical and Mechanical Engineer, Inventor

One of science's most amazing visionaries of all time, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla
was considered a mathematical phenomenon since childhood, being able as a high school
student to perform integral calculus in his head, which initially prompted his teachers to believe that he was cheating!

This famous engineer and inventor was known for developing the alternating-current (AC) electrical system widely used today and the discovery of the rotating magnetic field. Tesla also proved that the Earth can be used as an electrical conductor.

Read his full biography by clicking here.

Learn more about the USA Science & Engineering Festival here. Save the dates for April 26-27, 2014 for the Festival Finale Expo in Washington, D.C.

carlyo Fri, 10/25/2013 - 13:04

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Role Models in Science & Engineering

USA Science & Engineering Festival

Please check out my novel, Alternating Current, based on the legacy of Nikola Tesla!

Also, I would greatly appreciate a short post on your blog promoting the book to Tesla fans.

Thank you!

John.

http://www.amazon.com/Alternating-Current-ebook/dp/B00DV32ISA/ref=sr_1_…

Thanks John! Thanks for your message. Contact us directly regarding the blog request.

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Eloy Rodriguez

carlyo — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:59:17 +0000

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Eloy Rodriguez

Plant Biologist Eloy Rodriguez came from humble beginnings and now is a leading authority on ethnobotanical medicine.

Eloy Rodriguez is an expert of ethnobotanical medicine (the benefits of natural plants to healing and disease prevention). He coined the concept and study of zoopharmacognosy, the process by which non-human animals(such as apes) self-medicate by selecting and using plants to treat and prevent disease.

Cited in books and passed down for centuries, plants have been used for ages by many ethnic cultures to treat infections, cancer, diabetes, malaria and other illnesses. "In Mexico, for example," says Eloy Rodriquez, a leading plant biologist, "over 500 plants are used for the treatment of diabetes. And they're still using the same plants that were used from the time of the Aztecs and before."

Read more of his fascinating biography including how various cultures have used plants for healing and to treat illness here.

Learn more about the USA Science & Engineering Festival here. Save the dates for April 26-27, 2014 for the Festival Finale Expo in Washington, D.C.

carlyo Thu, 09/05/2013 - 12:59

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USA Science & Engineering Festival