Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Community Programs Office (CPO) STEM Education Program Database

********************************************************************************************

Spring 2009 meeting of the New Mexico Partnership for Math and Science Education

The Community Programs Office recently launched a new STEM Education Programs database. The database captures detailed program information about the more than 25 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) K-20 programs that LANL currently sponsors.

It will enable the Laboratory and its many education partners to more effectively integrate and align STEM programs throughout the institution to address regional education needs. Phase 1 of the database was to capture the Laboratory’s programs.

Phase 2 (to be completed next fiscal year) is intended to capture the numerous STEM education programs that partner with LANL throughout the region, state, and nation. This resource will serve as a one-stop shop for gathering current and accurate information about valuable programs for students, teachers, faculty, elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities.

This will create an opportunity for leveraging resources and partnerships that will provide for greater impact to our students in STEM. The following link provides the current listing of LANL’s STEM education programs: http://community.lanl.gov/source/orgs/cpo/education_programs/lanl_education_programs.shtml

Below is a sample of some of LANL’s STEM Education Programs:

Programs	Contact	Audience
Atmospheric RadiationMeasurement (ARM)	Ed Lorusso (505) 667-1186	Teachers (K-12)
Bradbury Science Museum Galleries (including DemoStage and TechLab	Linda Deck (505)665-3339	Pre-K-12
Bradbury Science Museum Online Programs (Web and Internet)	Linda Deck (505) 665-3339	K-20
Certificate in Environmental Monitoring	Michael McNaughton (505) 667-6130	College Students
Computer Science Pipeline Program	Carol Hogsett (505 )665-4732	College Students
Environmental Remediation Outreach and Public Involvement	Lorrie Bonds-Lopez (505) 667-0216	Public at large

Previous Comments
I believe having a database of STEM education programs across New Mexico can help strengthen existing programs through collaborations rather than just leading to still more programs – each with their own overhead costs. Those of us associated with STEM professional organizations which have an interest in STEM education could use such a database to explore collaborative opportunities to make best use of our limited resources. I recall seeing information on such a database at the April 2008 “Engage New Mexico” conference in Las Cruces but not sure whether that ever got up and running. While your mentioned LANL database would obviously focus on LANL programs the mentioned phase 2 may tie in enough partner programs to provide a good representation of programs across the state. As well a calendar of New Mexico STEM events would be useful to help prevent cross scheduling of events. Mr. Donivan Porterfield American Chemical Society – Central New Mexico Local Section

Bruce McClure of Sandia and myself at UNM are looking to create a calendar of STEM events. I have heard of several organizations that are working on a STEM education database but I'm not sure where things are with that. I think the partnership should consider taking a role in organizing this effort.--Kristin U.

******************************************************************************************************