Event Recap: Innovate STEM Symposium 2009
Collaborpedia readers! I had the privilege of being an invited speaker at the 2nd Annual Innovative STEM Symposium which was held at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. It is organized by the Clarence M. Mitchell, JR. School of Engineering. Morgan State has an initiative known as the Center of Advanced Microwave Research and Applications which received its initial funding from NASA in 2002.
It was a 3 day conference which was broken down into 3 components: the MD Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (MD-JSHS), the Innovate STEM Symposium, and the ISC Award of Prominence.
Below is the ISC Mission Statement:
ISC is designed to strategically expose, promote, and foster relationships with students and young professionals interested in becoming prominent scientists, technologist, engineers, and mathematicians.
- Bridge the technology gap for underrepresented, but gifted, students in science technology engineering and mathematics;
- Expose each student to advanced research opportunities and foster relationships with potential employees;
- Grant funding for research and opportunities with the aid of corporate, government, and private partnerships;
- Ignite the students placed in the pipeline with cutting-edge and informative programs; and
- Neutralize myths that “science isn’t fun or appealing” and STEM careers are too difficult to achieve.”
I was scheduled to facilitate two 45 minute workshops so I had two lectures ready to go. I gave the both audiences the opportunity to choose between the two lectures I have prepared. Which would you have selected??
Topic#1
SharePoint Needs You! Entering the SharePoint Job Market After College
Topic#2
From Intern to Mogul: Successful Hip-Hop Entrepreneur Case Studies and Business Models
I thought topic #2 would be the overwhelming favorite, being that I was dealing with audiences ranging from 16-22, but the group wanted to learn about the fastest growing server platform in Microsoft’s history.
I kept the flow of the workshops light and fun-filled. I have NEVER laughed w/ my audience as much while doing a presentation as I have during this conference. I really enjoyed the questions, the interaction, and the feedback.
In between the sessions, I gave brief mentoring sessions with the kids. One high school sophomore introduced himself and asked me “I will be starting my own restaurant business. Is Morgan State Uni a good school to learn business.” What followed was a 20 minute discussion on using the time available NOW by accessing online resources and the library, as well as maintaining a high GPA. I gave him the site URL to the Small Business Association as well. Hopefully the young man follows up and is successful.
I’m in the works of doing more workshops w/ other universities but I wanted to share this experience. Hopefully my message and information helped someone make a career decision!
-Mr.Shadeed