RIC to Host STEM Conference Featuring National Leaders

RIC to Host STEM Conference Featuring National Leaders

Rhode Island College is hosting the STEM conference (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and will be including Norman Augustine, retired chair of Lockheed Martin, American Red Cross and National Academy of Engineering, to deliver keynote.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed and Rick Brooks of Governor’s Workforce Board will also speak at Friday's event. The conference will discuss how best to prepare today’s middle and high school students for the workforce of 2020 and beyond. The summit will beheld Friday, April 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Rhode Island College, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence, in Alger Hall, Room 110.

“Issues and action steps for workforce development in Rhode Island have been identified,” said Mary M. Sullivan, director of the RI Stem Center. “Short-term proposals are underway. This summit addresses the workforce of 2020 and beyond, an overlooked population.”

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This summit is designed to provide business, education, government and other communities “to take advantage of a unique opportunity to collaborate about preparation of future employees while they are in middle and high school,” Sullivan said.

Augustine was chairperson of the committee that produced the “Rising above the Gathering Storm” report in 2005 and the committee that revisited the report in 2010. His background in STEM supported an extensive career in education, business and military endeavors.

One section of the conference will be devoted to an interactive breakout session called “Defining and Developing Workforce Competencies.”