The intersection of science and policy

In Tuesday's online section of energy and environment, there was a report in 2009, the use of wind power as a source of renewable energy went up 39% percent. But the increase of use of renewable energy sources as a part of how we generate power, isn't simply left to science alone, but is due to some government intervention as well. At times, the innovations in science and technology are kinda like the chicken and the egg theory. Which came first, the innovation in science or the government regulation and/or funding in the area of innovation?

In the past few years, with the high oil prices, the problems that diplomatic problems with the Middle East and the rest of the world and pollution caused by generation of power has fueled a debate on how can we achieve energy independence and use more renewable energy sources. Even if the diplomatic relations between the oil producing companies and the rest of the world are always peaceful, fossil fuel are a limited supply and will one day run out. So they debate begin, how to we create a cost effective way of generating power for our homes, business and cars that will allow us to be responsible stewards of the planet.

The technology for use to generate wind power as a renewable energy source has been around for years. There have been wind turbines and wind turbines around for several years. But why the jump of the use of wind energy in 2009; more federal regulation on the use of renewable energy and money for the federal stimulus bill to support this initiative. The growth of wind power, will be based on the level of governmental regulation. The more regulation concerning electricity and the use of renewable energy resources in power generation; the more innovation and practical use we will see.

I'm just curious what other scientific discoveries are lead by government regulation and vice versa. In the big scheme of things, my major concern is that we continue to have innovations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and funding to support scientific research.

So

Scientific literacy and the world around us

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson defines scientific literacy as how you see and view the world. When you think about it that is exactly what reading and writing science (scientific literacy) is. Some people confuse it for the ability to derive the newton's first law of thermodynamics or any chemical or mathematical question. But science and math is much simpler than that; it is part of who we are and what we do on a daily basis. It is such an integral part of our world, you can't understand the world and how it functions without understanding science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For example, let's take cooking something that we do everyday, you have to understand basic math such as fractions to ensure that you are using the proper amount of ingredients to get the taste and flavor you desire. When turning on your lights, you must understand the simple concept of circuits, electric engineering and physics. When you drive your car, you are understanding the concepts of material science, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering. When you use your computer or your cell phone, you must understand concepts of electrical and computer engineering and material science.

You see if you pay attention to what is around you; science, technology, engineering and mathematics is the basics on your every day life. When you are able to recognize that you are scientifically literate.

Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. Martin L. King Jr and Leaving your own legacy

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr's birthday and this weekend is the celebration of his life and legacy. Dr. King was truly a great man and left a lasting impact on this world, through his teachings and what he accomplished to make this country a better place for us all. Although, we still have strides to make to improve racial relations and equality for all in this country; it is so much better than it would be if Dr. King, other civil rights leaders of the time and those who joined them in that great cause. Those individuals worked hard to make the change they vision of what this world could be and their vision has come to pass.

One can learn so many things from the life and legacy of Dr. King. This great man, died over 40 years ago and not only are we still celebrating his life and impact on the world, but teaching his principles to the current and future generations. The main lesson I take away from Dr. King is that if you want to be a great person, you can't just live your life, you must leave a legacy. In order to leave a legacy, you have to live your life working for a towards making life better for more than just yourself and those in your network. When I moved to Atlanta and visited the King center I learned that Dr. King and his family were part of the privileged African Americans that had access to education and wealth. Not to say that they didn't have it hard, but they had it better than most African Americans in the south during their time. But he had a desire to make life better for more than just his family, but for his community and the world; and he accomplished that and every day the world is becoming a better place.

The second lesson that I take from Dr. King's life and legacy is when you are passionate about a cause, that passion ignites others to join you in your cause. If you think about it most visions that make an impact in the world are too large for one person to accomplish on his own. But that person has to be a great communicator and have great passion, to ignite others toward his cause and work toward making the vision a reality. Dr. King inspired so many people to make a difference in the world as he saw it needed to be changed, from the leaders he trained to assist him with the direct organization of the movement to the countless people all over the country that joined him in the cause. We wouldn't even be talking about the March on Washington, if only Dr. King was present. We wouldn't even be taking about Dr. King if he didn't have people to believe and buy in to his vision and work towards the cause.

I just want to take some time to thank Dr. King for thinking bigger than himself to make a difference in this world. Thank you Dr. King for the life you lived and the legacy you left for those who have come behind you. His life truly inspired me to think bigger than myself and establish SEM Link 5 years ago. But just like Dr. King, my vision to promote academic achievement and career exploration in math and science for K-12 is too big for me to make a reality all by myself. So I want to thank all the board members past and present, the staff, the volunteers, corporate and community partners for joining me in making the vision of "unveiling potential through exposure" a reality. Let us continue the work that we started so that SEM Link can leave a legacy and make its impact in math and science education. We are on our way to creating the members of the future STEM workforce.

President Obama's STEM initiative aligns with SEM Link's Vision of Mentoring

When I received the link to this article on my Facebook page about this initiative that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department of Education and Learn and Serve America is pushing as a MLK Jr Holiday service project, I thought, my friends and colleagues in DC must have told President Obama about SEM Link( for more information visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/12/mlk-technology-challenge). This project encourages technology professionals to partner with schools to improve their technology infrastructure and increase their use of technology.

With this being the beginning of the New year and National Mentoring Month, it is important that we think of ways we can mentor youth. You see the thing about mentoring there is no right or wrong way to mentor as your proteges learn something during their time with you. Our organization was founded and we selected the name for the organization as SEM Link for the same premise in which this project is based ; we can enhance the educational experiences for youth when we connect them with STEM professionals, undergraduate and graduate students. The great thing about connecting the STEM community to the K-12 students and educators is that it truly combines the best of both worlds for the students to prepare them for our future. The educators teach the students the basics educational foundation and implement the principles of student learning. The STEM community brings the strong content knowledge in these subject areas and opens the students eyes to the possibilities of who they can be, what more they can do right now and what they can do when they grow up.

So STEM community, be a part of the link that our organization is building between schools and the community by getting involved. If have time to spare be a doer and find an ongoing service opportunity like tutoring, math or science fair project mentoring. If your time is limited volunteer for a one time event like judging a math or serving as an exhibitor for our career fair. If you don't have time, but you have some extra cash be a donor by making a financial contribution to our organization. Visit our website at www.semsuccess.org to find out what you can get involved and link yourself to K-12 students and educators and help us "unveil potential through exposure".

January is National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month. It is the time when we highlight and celebrate the work of organizations that are involved in mentoring youth (for more information visit www.mentoring.org). There are many nonprofit organizations that are doing wonderful things to make a difference in the lives of children. I want take this time to honor those organization. I want to take this time to thank and honor SEM Link program assistant, Ms. Angela M. Hardin and volunteers that are involved directly in our programs that serve at the schools and interact directly with the students exposing them to math and science.

The origin of the term mentor comes from Greek mythology, when Mentor the friend of Odysseus, was left in charge of Odysseus's son Telemachus when he went off to the Trojan War. The first recorded modern usage of the term was in the "Les Aventures de Telemaque", by the French writer François Fénelon in 1699 in which the lead character was Mentor. Mentoring is when more experienced, in most times older person, serves as a teacher, friend, counselor and example to a younger person as the person advance through life and/or a project.

Mentors play an important role in one's personal and professional development. If we are honest with ourselves, most adults would not be where they are today if weren't for a few good mentors that we were fortunate enough to have in our lives. A good mentors does two major things for you; teaches you thinks that you and introduces you to people you need to know to be successful and puts you in an environment where you can develop your natural gifts and talents. Mentors invest in their proteges simply because they believe that you are worth the investment and want to see you become all you can and accomplish all you can.

Mentoring can take place in an informal or formal setting. There are mentoring programs that set youth up with mentors like Big Brothers or Big Sisters. Or informal mentoring that takes place, when a student is introduced to people that provide an example of who they want to become and accomplish in life. Although SEM Link is not an organization that has a formal mentoring program, our vision statement- "unveiling potential through exposure" is the essence of what the results of good mentoring should be. Through our programs, we have exposed students to undergraduate and graduate students and professionals with stem backgrounds that have not only have engaged in hands on math and science activities, helped them with their homework and exposed them to what scientist do; but gave them a glimpse of who they could be and what they could accomplish. Our volunteers have let students know that they are so worth the investment of their time in helping them academic achieve and explore careers in math and science.

As an organization, we will continue to provide mentoring to our youth. Not enough youth feel that they can academically achieve or pursue careers in math and science. At times, we may not get to have opportunities for a long term mentoring relationship with our students like other organizations. But we do a great job of mentoring our youth by giving them a glimpse of what they can do and who they can be; a student that academic achieves in math and science and a part of the future STEM workforce.

Making 2010 SEM Link's best year ever

The close of one year and the start of another one is the time for reflection for many people. We determine and make lists of the goals and plans we have for the new year with the intentions of completing them all in the upcoming year. I know I do that annually and most years I accomplish those things and some that weren't on the list, but I also fall short on completing some of them. So as 2010 approaches I want to share some of the things that we as an organization will focus on and the things I want to ask you to do in 2010.

Since our inception in 2005, SEM Link has exposed over 1000 Metro Atlanta youth to hands on activities and career exploration in math and science. We are very proud of our work, but in order to increase our impact as an organization we can't just focus on Metropolitan Atlanta. We have some initiatives that are going to focus on expanding our programs nationally and possibly internationally. In addition, we are going to look for ways to incorporate instructional technology and multimedia in our programming. In addition, we are working on building relationships with other organizations that have complementary mission to increase the impact we have on the students we serve. In addition, we are working on increase our corporate partnership and community relations so that we can have the resources that we need to achieve our mission. In addition, we want to expand our online community through our social media outlets such as this blog and our facebook page.

In order for all these goals and plans for 2010 and beyond to happen, we need everyone who supports and believes in SEM Link mission to put our organization in their goal and plans for 2010. Determine what you are going to do to support the organization or increase your level of support. Will you promote the organization by encouraging others to visit our website to find out more, follow our blog and became a fan of our Facebook page? Will you start making or increase your financial contribution to our "Donate Your Lunch Money" Individual Donor Campaign? If you are a business owner will you become a corporate partner? If work for a small, medium or large corporation, will you encourage your company to become a corporate partner and/or encourage your colleagues to donate or volunteer their time. It takes a village to educate a child and SEM Link needs to make that village larger in 2010. We have to make strides to create the pipeline for the future STEM workforce. Happy New Year. Make 2010 your best year ever. We are certainly expecting 2010 to be SEM Link's best year ever.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics on Television

My schedule doesn't always permit me to watch television. However, I do have a few shows that I enjoy when I want to wind down that I watch on hulu.com or on the website of the network that show airs on. As I think about the shows that I do like to catch up on the internet, most of them involve some real world application of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I think that in what I feel is the decline of the quality of TV shows, we have an large amount of shows that showcase real world applications of STEM disciplines.

Two of my favorite are Better of Ted on ABC and Bones on Fox. Better of Ted is a comedy that features a food company that is constantly engaged in food science research doing some cutting edge research in genetic engineering. Bones is a show about a forensic anthropologist with her team of scientists that solve murders. There are the medical dramas that showcase breaking technology in biomedical research and medical treatment such as House, Private Practice, Trauma, Grey's Anatomy and Hawthorne. I was amazed a few weeks ago on Grey's Anatomy, when two doctors spend months creating a surgical instrument to treat child's medical condition because no instrument was available for them to perform a surgery to save this child's life. Then they are the CSI's, NCIS, the Closer and Criminal Minds which uses science and technology to solve crimes. One of the shows that has the most probably underrepresented STEM discipline although it connects all disciplines is NUMBERS on CBS in which a mathematics, who has his PHD in mathematics, who uses several mathematics theories and models to help the FBI solve crimes.

Although some of these shows aren't age appropriate for children. Those who are you should watch them with your children. Those that aren't let them see the commercial and discuss the careers and their impact on society with your children. We can't create the future STEM workforce, if our kids don't see STEM professionals they won't know these career exist. So since kids are watching TV anyway, use it as a career exploration tool.