[291] 5th STEM Education Research Conference is Set Feb. 3-4 at DoubleTree Hotel

Release date: Feb. 2, 2011

News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
TMSTEC contact: Lee Ann Newton, 615-904-8573 or lnewton@mtsu.edu

5th STEM Education Research Conference is Set Feb. 3-4 at DoubleTree Hotel

(MURFREESBORO) — A STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Showcase of nine Tennessee universities will kickoff the MTSU-TMSTEC 5th annual STEM Education Research Conference this Thursday and Friday, Feb. 3-4, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro.

Each university will highlight All things STEM at their chosen institution to more than 100 higher-education faculty and representatives from the State Board of Education, Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the State Department of Education, said conference coordinator Lee Ann Newton of the Tennessee Math Science Technology Education Center.

An informative session with Anne Pope, executive director of the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network and Sky Gallegos, director of the STEM Innovation Network, will take place on Friday, Feb. 4. They are tasked with directing the expenditures of the $501 million that the state of Tennessee received in the first wave of Federal “Race to the Top” funding in March 2010.

Tim McCullom, a Presidential Award of Excellence for Math and Science Teaching recipient and winner of the coveted Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence from the National Education Association Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s conference.

Stephen P. “Steve: Heyneman, professor of international education policy in the College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt/Peabody College, also will be a main speaker who will bring an exciting international dimension to this year’s conference, Newton said.

"If America is to maintain our high standard of living, we must continue to innovate. We are competing with nations many times our size. We don't have a single brain to waste. Math and science are the engines of innovation. With these engines we can lead the world. We must demystify math and science so that all students feel the joy that follows understanding."

— Dr. Michael Brown, former Nobel Prize winner for medicine and the Paul J. Thomas Professor of Molecular Genetics and Director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas

The 5th Annual STEM Education Research Conference seeks to bring together a consortium of Tennessee educators to share STEM education innovations across the many universities of Tennessee, Newton added.

The conference is provided in partnership with the Space Grant Consortium, MTSU and TMSTEC.

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Media welcomed.

Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree — the only one in Tennessee — as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

For MTSU news and information, go online to mtsunews.com.