The advancement and improvement of STEM education will be the focus
of a national conference that will take place at Grand Valley State
University, June 3-4.
The third annual ASQ STEM (science, technology, engineering and
math) Agenda Conference invites industry leaders, employers and
educators to discuss ways to improve strategies for effective and
successful collaboration between industry and education. The
conference agenda and registration is at asq.org/conferences/stem-agenda.
Paul Plotkowski, dean of the Padnos College of Engineering and
Computing at Grand Valley, said there is a huge, national demand for
graduates in the STEM fields. “In a recent study, nine of the top 10
most in-demand fields are in engineering and computer science,” he
said. “This conference will bring together professionals in the STEM
fields, ranging from K-12 teachers to university faculty and
employers.”
The American Society for Quality (ASQ) Education Division, a
co-sponsor of the conference, chose Grand Valley as a host because of
the university’s growing reputation as an exceptional engineering
school. Grand Valley was recognized
in 2012 by the National Academy of Engineering as an exemplar of
“Real World Engineering Education” for its co-op and capstone
programs.
Keynote speakers include:
• Paul Plotkowki, dean of the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of
Engineering and Computing, Grand Valley State University
•
Reginald McGregor, manager of engineering employee development R
&T strategy at Rolls-Royce Corporation in Indianapolis
•
Carrie Houtman, regulatory affairs leader at Dow Chemical. She led
Dow’s STEM education initiatives and represented Dow on President
Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership
• Glenn Walters,
deputy cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Higher Education Department
Two panel discussions and four workshops will take place on
topics such as, developing effective industry partnerships, assessing
STEM learning communities, improving graduation rates, and
entrepreneurship.
For more information about the conference, visit www.gvsu.edu/pcec.
