UBM Electronics Editors to Keynote the IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference on March 9, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM Electronics, the daily source of essential business and technical information for the electronics industry's decision makers, today announced that two members of its editorial team will speak on STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) education and development at the IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC) on Friday, March 9, at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ. 

Suzanne Deffree, EDN Online Manager, and Naomi Price, Online Brand Manager for the EE Times STEM education site Innovation Generation and the EE Life social community, will be keynote speakers at the ISEC 2012, an event dedicated to improving K-16 STEM education using project-based methods.

ISEC 2012 is presented in conjunction with the 7th annual IEEE IT Professional Conference at the Trenton Computer Festival. The theme of ISEC 2012 is "Integrate by Design," and will focus on the use of design activities from all disciplines, including art and architecture, in STEM instruction.

Deffree's presentation, "The Engineering Crisis: 5 Things we should and can all be doing to inspire STEM," will start the ISEC event at 10 a.m. and follows on editorial coverage EDN has devoted to encouraging the next generation of STEM professionals, including the March 1 cover story and continuing blog series on "engineering" more interest in STEM. (See http://bit.ly/xyFX9J and http://bit.ly/wfcz3l) "STEM career focuses, especially engineering, are not attracting students in the way they have in previous generations," Deffree said. "These professionals develop ideas and innovations that not only produce products like smartphones, pacemakers, and home appliances that make our lives better, safer, and easier, but that help create jobs and maintain national competitiveness. As members of the STEM community, we need to encourage, build, and engineer next-generation talent that will continue on these paths."

Price's presentation will directly follow at 10:30 a.m. Price will speak on "The Importance of Mentoring in STEM" and will focus on the status of technical education in the US school system and how mentors from the electronics professions can work within the school system to enrich programming and engage students. She will share findings from her extensive discussions with teachers and mentors who participated in a recent four-month electronics contest, and will pass on their thoughts on finding mentors, what mentors add to the student experience, and programs they recommend to spark student interest in electronics and other STEM fields.

"Schools are struggling to meet the challenge of improving their STEM programming. Experience-based projects can go a long way to engaging students in this complex technical material," said Price. "But such lessons are difficult to work into the regular school day and often schools lack the funding or experienced personnel to put such programs into action. This is where mentors can make an enormous difference."

UBM Electronics will continue its STEM efforts at its upcoming DESIGN West event in San Jose, CA, during a March 28 panel at 1:30 p.m. will explore the topic of "engineering the next generation of STEM." DESIGN West attendees are also invited to a networking event following the panel, allowing experienced engineers to connect with incoming STEM professionals for mentor opportunities. See http://bit.ly/ysNEGY for more information on this panel and event.

UBM Electronics is also a sponsor of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, April 28-29, in Washington, DC. Its editors will be at the Festival engaging visitors with a bevy of "electrifying" experiences such as the iPod Autopsy, a favorite of the 2010 Festival, where kids will get the chance to break open a real iPod, explore the internal components and learn how the gadget actually works. There will be a team of student Cub Reporters on hand producing video, audio and blog accounts of the Festival events as they take place.   In addition, UBM Electronics will also showcase Avnet Express' Drive for Innovation project at the event.  The Drive for Innovation is a year-long, cross-country road trip focused on uncovering innovation in the electronics industry, made in a General Motors Chevrolet Volt.  The multi-faceted program is anchored by a website, which features content from the road trip, a drive tracker and an interactive map that highlights the tour as well as games and prizes to fuel community engagement.

More information on DESIGN West, March 26-29, can be found at: www.ubmdesign.com

More information on ISEC can be found at: http://ewh.ieee.org/conf/stem

More information on the USA Science & Engineering Festival can be found at: www.usasciencefestival.org

Follow the @EDNmagazine, @igeneration, and @deffree Twitter feeds and facebook.com/innovationgeneration for updates on these efforts and other STEM initiatives and resources.

About UBM Electronics

UBM Electronics is the global leader in media and marketing solutions for the electronics industry.  UBM Electronics delivers results for the key influencers and decision makers involved in the design, development and commercialization of technology through its market leading brands, peer communities and professional education services.  More than 1.7 million engineering professionals engage with UBM Electronics brands which include EE Times, EDN, Design News, Test & Measurement World, TechOnline, EBN, Datasheets.com, Designlines and Embedded.com across the globe to accelerate technology sales. The international electronics community gathers at UBM Electronics market leading events such as the Embedded Systems Conferences, DesignCon and ARM Technology Conference to share, learn, discuss, and advance the critical issues and challenges facing the electronics industry. Additionally, UBM Electronics provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation marketing, integrated media, custom solutions and research.  UBM Electronics is part of UBM (UBM.L) a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

About UBM

UBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,634 staff in more than 31 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

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