This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
The future of tomorrow’s global economy relies on the education of children today and the technology they will be able to produce, which is why the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and Cisco established a partnership earlier this year to encourage children to take on professions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM fields. Two new partners were added to the group, officially known as the Global STEM Alliance, on November 18th. They are the State University of New York (SUNY) and the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Alliance, modeled after the NYAS’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring program, connects young scientists who are graduate or post-doctoral students with school children to strengthen their educational progress and engagement in STEM-related fields. In joining the partnership, SUNY will provide more volunteers while gaining the ability to connect students, mentors, and STEM experts worldwide through Cisco technology.
Buenos Aires will receive the resources to connect their students to mentors around the globe. At a meeting at Cisco headquarters in New York, the Director of Education Technologies for Buenos Aires said the children in his city need to be more educated in these fields than they are currently. Jorge Aguado praised the city’s new partnership with the Alliance and spoke of how it would positively benefit his city. Buenos Aires will now be able to connect their school children with other students within the Alliance network, Aguado said, allowing them the opportunity to collaborate on ideas and projects together. Other places within the network include Malaysia and Barcelona, which joined in October.
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About the Author: Julianne Chiaet writes about science and technology. Follow her on Twitter and Google+