Last September I announced that, along with some colleagues, I had founded a non-profit organization called The Project for STEM Competitiveness. I discussed the initial program being sponsored by this organization in a post entitled “Teaching STEM Subjects Using a Mission to Mars.” Another initiative being supported by the organization is a STEM Speakers Series that is open to the public.

The series will commence with two speakers from the Global Literacy Collaborative, Stephanie Gottwald, the Assistant Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, and Tinsley Galyean, who serves on the Steering Committee for the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. The Global Literacy Collaborative is the result of a partnership between the MIT Media Lab, Tufts University, Georgia State University and The Dalai Lama Center. To learn more about the work being done by the Collaborative, read my post entitled “The Global Literacy Collaborative Demonstrates the Power of Technology-assisted Education.” The vision of the Collaborative is to bring literacy to 100 million people by the end of the decade. The results so far have been fascinating and promising. The kickoff lecture for this series will be held at the Newtown Friends School in Newtown, PA, at 7 p.m. on 8 April 2014. The address is: 1450 Newtown – Langhorne Road • Newtown, PA 18940. If you are in the area, please consider attending. You will find the lecture both stimulating and informative.

The vision of The Project for STEM Competitiveness is to inspire a generation of students to consider pursuit of careers in STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines. We envision a project-based, hands-on, experiential program that engages parents, STEM professionals and innovative pedagogy to capture the imagination of youth and educators in a highly integrated community approach that lowers the barriers that have historically impeded STEM interest and education. Even if students opt to pursue a liberal arts degree, the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they learn through exposure to STEM subjects will help them throughout their lives.