TEMPE, AZ--(Marketwired - September 30, 2016) - In collaboration with the Arizona Technology Council, University of Advancing Technology (UAT) will host the 2016 Fall Chief Science Officer (CSO) Institute on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016, bringing together high school students interested in STEM for a day-long training session.
In the second year of hosting this event, UAT welcomes 150 high school student leaders to its technology-infused campus for a day of training on how to be effective advocates among their peers and the community for all things STEM.
What is a CSO? A Chief Science Officer or "CSO" is a 6th to 12th grade student elected by their peers to represent their school in STEM and innovation.
The CSO program was developed through the leadership of Dr. Jeremy Babendure, Executive Director of the Arizona Technology Council Foundation, Susan Farretta, Director of Programs and Education at Arizona SciTech and Dr. David Bolman, Provost of University of Advancing Technology.
Dr. Bolman said, "The CSO Training program is special because it offers teens who love science and technology a framework for student government leadership within their high school. They learn the skills to be great communicators about STEM within their high school communities. In turn, these CSO leaders bring more students to the technology and science pipeline - something that is desperately needed to fill Arizona's workforce."
Each team of students will participate in a series of STEM-related activities including:
- Team development using robotics, gaming, virtual reality and software development technologies
- Digital storytelling, social media and communication
- Developing STEM vision blogs
- SciTech exploration activities
- Building personal networks
- Team presentations to community
UAT President Jason Pistillo said, "Our country has a problem and UAT continues to try and address it. Without change, the United States will be woefully unprepared for the future."
"A review of recent Advanced Placement exam statistics shows that more than 10 times the number of students took the AP history exam than those who took AP computer science. That is a conservative statistic, but still illustrates the problem. Growth in occupations over the next 10 years will primarily fall into STEM-related fields, which is horribly incongruent with what young people are currently pursuing after high school," Pistillo said, "UAT will continue to give 110 percent to help our community engage young people in the various fields of advancing technology, to make a difference for Arizona and the country."
Contact Information:
Contact info:
Lauren Fach