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January 4, 2016

News and analysis from the world of science policy by Jeffery Mervis in Science Insider: Budget agreement boosts U.S. science.  See how science programs and initiatives will be affected in 2016. Read the piece and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Excerpt:
Early on 16 December, congressional leaders released the text of an omnibus spending bill that will fund all federal agencies for the rest of the 2016 fiscal year. We’ve taken a look at how individual agencies fared under the bill (see bullets below). Science has also compiled a

December 9, 2015

 

The debate continues by Janelle Cox in TeachHub.com: STEM vs STEAM: What’s Better? Doesn’t a Liberal Arts degree include STEM classes AND art classes? What is the controversy? Read the piece and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Excerpt:
Science, technology, engineering, and math, otherwise known as STEM,has become a major focal point in today’s schools. However, individuals are now proposing that art be added into the mix to make STEAM, which would be STEM + Art = STEAM. The goal of this would be to take science, math, and technology and add an…

November 5, 2015

 

CEE’s Alumni Take Tour of DEKA Research and FIRST Headquarters

DEKA Research’s mission, “to foster innovation” was evident when Research Science Institute and USA Biology Olympiad Alumni had an exciting and memorable tour of DEKA Research and FIRST facilities last week, hosted by their founder, Dean Kamen.

As an advocate for science and technology and a member of CEE’s Board of Trustees, Dean welcomed Research Science Institute and USA Biology Olympiad Alumni at headquarters, provided an extensive tour of the DEKA and FIRST facilities…

November 5, 2015

 

Betty Dranow the Hollywood Model

 

It’s not every day that CEE is able to give something back to someone who’s given the organization so much. That’s why the Center jumped at the opportunity to host a special 90th (!) birthday party for one of the Center’s most longstanding supporters: the incomparable Betty Dranow.

Betty, and her late husband, Milton Dranow, have been a part of CEE since its founding. In 1983, Milton became a charter member of the CEE Board of Trustees. He was a friend of our founder, Admiral H.G.…

November 2, 2015

 

Every year, more than a quarter of a million visitors stop by Groton, Connecticut to tour the USS Nautilus, America’s first nuclear-powered submarine. But a dozen recent VIP guests had a special connection to the museum. As alumni of the Research Science Institute and the USA Biology Olympiad, their careers were jumpstarted by the man known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” – Admiral H.G. Rickover.

In 1983, after 63 years of active duty service in the Navy (he was the longest serving naval officer in US history), Admiral Rickover…

October 7, 2015

Interesting read by John Tierney in this week's New York Times Sunday Review: The Reign of Recycling. Read the piece and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Excerpt:

In the United States, you probably do some form of recycling. It’s likely that you separate paper from plastic and glass and metal. You rinse the bottles and cans, and you might put food scraps in a container destined for a composting facility. As you sort everything into…

October 5, 2015

By Joann DiGennaro, CEE President

If you’re looking for data on how American students stack up against the rest of the world, there are no shortage of ominous surveys to choose from. According to the venerable Pew Research Center, 15 year-olds from the U.S. have lower math scores than students in 34 countries and fare worse in science than their peers in 22 other nations. Our students lag behind the likes of Vietnam, Latvia, and Slovenia in both surveys.

If this is news to you, you haven’t been paying attention. Our ability to stay at the highest levels of scientific…

July 28, 2015

It’s hardly controversial nowadays to stay that the US needs to find and encourage students with a talent and passion for STEM subjects – a recent U.S. News and World Report article even referred to that goal as a priority for national security. Efforts to encourage girls and young women to take an interest in STEM subjects are becoming widespread; groups like Girls Who Code, who recently visited Washington DC to …

STEM education, gifted education
June 25, 2015

A seemingly eternal debate in education is: what do we do about the student who is capable of working well above grade level? Does he become a “tutor” within the classroom, for example? Is he allowed to complete his grade-level work quickly and then pursue something he is more interested in, on his own? New research on the topic suggests that neither strategy is adequate.

At the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa’s College of Education, these issues have long been particular areas of concern.  The Center’s 2004 …

STEM, grade skipping, gifted education, Belin-Blank Center, Advanced Placement courses
May 15, 2015

Dr. Frederick Alt, a 66-year-old Harvard professor of genetics, recently received the Szent-Györgyi Prize from the National Foundation for Cancer Research for a twofold breakthrough. Decades ago, Alt upended conventional wisdom of human genome behavior when he discovered that cancer cells had the capacity to genetically amplify themselves, allowing them to spread, become more dangerous and resist treatments.

From there, he discovered how chromosomes recognize the "machinery" that keeps their genomes stable -- machinery that cancer cells lack. That led to a better understanding of…