White House announces major STEM initiative

[rsisk]

Today at the White House, President Obama is launching an “Educate to Innovate” campaign to improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The event will kick off at 11:30 a.m. with a speech from the President. There will be a webcast available below. OSTP Director John P. Holdren and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will also be hosting a Facebook chat at 1 p.m. to discuss the new initiative.

http://blog.ostp.gov/2009/11/23/pres...t-white-house/

And look who appears to be standing in line to get into the White House: http://twitpic.com/qn3kg

[James Tonthat]

How did you even find Dave in that picture?

Edit: Or how did anyone find Dave in that picture? (After reading the comments)

[Carol]

Obama just announced that a high school team is there and will demonstrate their robot that shoots moonrocks! I didn't catch the name of the team though.

[Andrew Schreiber]

For some reason I remember reading that 116 is there. (But I cannot recall where I read that)

EDIT: Found the source, Team 116 has a twitter account and it was on there.

And spotting Dave in that picture wasn't hard, especially when you tend to look at Adam's pictures rather closely because a lot of them are funny.

[James Tonthat]

Ah, I didn't realize that was Adam Savage's twitter.

[Rick TYler]

EDITED: I have my answer -- their Webcast is messed up. I was online at 8:20 PST and the "White House Live" frame never changed for more than an hour. By going to a different site and then drilling in two levels I finally found the elusive "11:30 EST." Did Obama say anything interesting?

[JesseK]

Not sure what you're talking about Rick, the page comes up for me.

116 has undertaken these kinds of initiatives before ... everything from Capitol Hill visits to mentoring new rookie teams, facilitating FRC kickoff events, events on the National Mall, etc etc. I'm glad a team of their caliber could represent FIRST in D.C.

[James Tonthat]

I'm watching a highlight on CNN right now. They showed about 10 seconds, nothing that interesting. Just repeating that we need to lead innovation.

Edit: There's still this "Open for Questions

Sec. Duncan and Dir. Holdren discuss STEM announcement" on whitehouse.gov/live

[David Brinza]

The webcast was indeed miserable, but the address was shown live on CNN. Unfortunately, I missed the portion where the FIRST team was introduced. The President made some powerful statements regarding the importance of STEM for the country's future. He specifically mentioned FIRST robotics as a program inspiring students in science, math an technology. The President spoke of major STEM program (5 yr, $100M), Connect a Million Minds, led by Time Warner Cable, partnering with FIRST and the Coalition for Science After School (CSAS). He also announced a National Lab Day and national science fair, with winners of various competitions invited to the White House.

CNN nearly cut away before the brief robotics demonstration at the end of the event, even after the media had been admonished by the President for it's lack of interest in the subject of education! Fortunately, the robotics demonstration did manage about 15 seconds of air time before CNN returned to it's regular news coverage.

P.S. I believe the robot was from Team 623 (Oakton HS), two of the team members were introduced by the President. Awesome job!!

[Rich Kressly]

Realted White House press release is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...-technology-en

[blaxbb]

"Why doesn't every high school in this country have a robotics team?" - John P. Holdren

[Rich Kressly]

Transcript of the announcement:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...ovate-campaign

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by blaxbb

"Why doesn't every high school in this country have a robotics team?" - John P. Holdren

Excellent question.

[Ryan Dognaux]

I just took a look at the Connect A Million Minds website at http://www.connectamillionminds.com and saw the 3 requirements to request support:

• Be a registered 501(c)3 organization
• Provide youth (ages 11-18) access to hands-on STEM learning opportunities in after-school settings
• Be located within TWC's footprint

The area of Time Warner Cable's footprint encompasses California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas & Wisconsin. If I were a team in one of those states, I would start applying - http://www.connectamillionminds.com/...t_support.php#

The cool thing is that you can request In-Kind support as well. Teams could start producing PSA's and have them air for no cost.

[pentau]

The New York Times has posted a quick synopsis of the event, with a picture of a FIRST robot! I'm not sure of the team #, though.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2...y-learning/?hp

Here is a picture from the nytimes.com homepage: