November 22, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

UMW to Host Fredtech’s Fourth Annual STEM Summit, April 25

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The University of Mary Washington will host Fredtech’s fourth annual STEM16 Summit, a showcase of regional initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, on Saturday, April 25. ChemistryThe summit will feature a keynote address and more than 50 booths highlighting the achievements and offerings of the region’s students, educators, and businesses in the STEM arena. The event is organized by Fredtech, the Technology Council for the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce. The free public event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Anderson Center. Keynote speaker Jason Kring, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has previously been featured on TEDx talks on subjects such as building a home for space and searching for the ideal crew for manned mission to Mars. Kring is currently working on MEERS, Embry-Riddle’s Mobile Extreme Environmental Research Lab. He received his doctorate in applied experimental and human factors psychology from the University of Central Florida. The summit is the region’s largest STEM event, connecting the region’s educators, students, public officials and businesses. This year, the summit is expected to represent more than 40 secondary schools, the University of Mary Washington, Germanna Community College, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren. Keith Mellinger, professor of mathematics at UMW, sees the university as a key player in having students apply science in their future careers. “UMW is a recognized leader in developing the next generation of scientists,” said Mellinger. “Higher education plays a critical role in the pipeline from high school to the working world.  UMW’s involvement in the summit demonstrates its commitment to strengthening this pipeline.” The event is sponsored by UMW, SimVentions, WGRQ SuperHits 95.9, the Central Rappahannock Regional Library and Lockheed Martin. For more information, to register or to purchase booth space, contact Sheri Wikert at sheri@fredericksburgchamber.org or (540) 373-9400.

UMW Showcases STEM Activities

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Small drones buzzed overhead as more than 600 people viewed the latest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the Anderson Center at the University of Mary Washington on March 29 during the third annual  STEM Summit 16. Click to view slideshow. Showcasing the achievements of the region’s students, educators and businesses, the event featured more than 50 booths, including the UMW departments of biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and environmental science, geography, mathematics, physics and the admissions office. Germanna Community College, the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren and a variety of regional schools also showcased 3-D printers, experiments and robotics among other STEM-related technologies. Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab and associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, delivered the keynote address. One of the U.S. Navy’s first female fighter pilots, Cummings discussed drone technologies and human-machine collaboration. The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual event is sponsored by Central Rappahannock Regional Library (FredTech) and Lockheed Martin. A few steps away in the Goolrick pool, five local school teams – from elementary to high school – competed in the regional SeaPerch competition. The SeaPerch program, funded by the Office of Naval Research, is an innovative underwater robotics program that equips teachers and students with the resources they need to build an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Teams guided their remote-controlled submersibles through a series of tasks, including navigating an underwater obstacle course and retrieving weights. Teams also presented to a panel of judges about the overall projects. Two teams, both from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity Dahlgren School, won the competition and will go on to a national SeaPerch competition in Mississippi. A different buzz could be heard further down Campus Walk during the 8th Annual UMW High School Calculus Tournament. Six local high school teams, consisting of 23 students, competed in a jeopardy-style competition and used individual buzzers to signal the correct answers. The Paul VI High School team from Fairfax took home the championship title with team members Christina Wulff, Stephanie Ibanez and Stephanie Keener. The Mountain View High School team from Stafford finished second. Thomas Sheehan, also from Paul VI High School, earned the top individual score of the tournament. More than $600 in prizes were awarded to the student winners as well as the schools represented by the top two teams. The event was sponsored by Dynovis.

UMW to Host STEM Summit, March 29

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The University of Mary Washington will host the third annual FredTech STEM 16 Summit on Saturday, March 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Anderson Center. The annual event showcases the achievements of the region’s students, educators and businesses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Chem-lab-2Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab and associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, will deliver the keynote address at noon. She is a leading authority on drone technologies and human-machine collaboration and is one of the U.S. Navy’s first female fighter pilots. Featuring more than 40 local secondary schools, UMW, Germanna Community College and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, the event will include STEM-related booths and technology demonstrations throughout the day. This event is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, visit http://members.fredericksburgchamber.org/events/details/3rd-annual-stem-summit-3205.

STEM Summit Showcases Area Technology

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The second annual FredTech STEM 16 Summit brought together more than 350 educators, students, community members and business leaders at the University of Mary Washington on Saturday, April 20. Click here to view the embedded video. The day-long event featured seminars on STEM programming in school districts and women in technology, as well as a STEM career panel.  The summit also included more than 45 projects from UMW, regional elementary and secondary schools, Germanna Community College, and local and regional businesses and nonprofit organizations. Six UMW offices and academic departments were represented at the summit, including the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Mathematics, the Office of Admissions and a 3D printing demonstration. UMW computer science student David Peworchik was honored with the “SWIFT Scholarship in Computer Science” Award for the 2013-2014 academic year, which provides a merit scholarship to a top computer science major in the region. The scholarship is funded by the Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunications, Inc (SWIFT). In addition, UMW students, Alex Gilley, Zach Goodwin, Jerome Mueller and Russell Ruud , were named as SWIFT Student Research Fellows for the 2013-2014 year.  They received funding from SWIFT and UMW to attend the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) conference  in San Diego in July.  The students will present their part of an interdisciplinary research project in the area of pharmaceutical discovery.  Their work with supercomputers and data analysis may lead to new treatments for diseases such as HIV and Tuberculosis, according to Associate Professor Karen Anewalt, chair of the Department of Computer Science. In conjunction with the summit, UMW held a titration competition and its seventh annual calculus tournament. In the team competition of the calculus tournament, the team from Paul VI High School in Fairfax came in first place and the team from the Commonwealth Governor’s School came in second place. In the individual competition, Jack Sweeney of Paul VI High School won first place and Lina Hong of Paul VI High School won second place. In the titration tournament, members of UMW’s honors general chemistry class won first place, followed by senior chemistry majors in second place. The summit culminated with a keynote lecture by David Kerr, a program lead in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Communications.

UMW To Host Regional STEM Summit, April 20

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The University of Mary Washington will host the second annual FredTech STEM 16 Summit on Saturday, April 20 to showcase innovations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics from across the region. The summit, co-sponsored by UMW, FredTech and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, will be held at the Anderson Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The event will showcase STEM-related projects from students, educators and businesses. More than 25 local secondary schools and universities will participate, including UMW, Germanna Community College and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren. Additionally, more than 50 booths will include STEM-related presentations. The summit also will include demonstrations on advancements in robotics and lasers and a STEM career fields panel. To register for the summit visit, http://fredericksburgregionalchamber.chambermaster.com/Events/details/stem-16-summit-2500 or call (540) 373-9400. For more information, contact Mary Garber, FredTech executive director, at Mary@fredericksburgchamber.org or George Hughes, the STEM 16 chairman, at ghughes@simventions.com.