Building more interest among students for careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) is one aim of an event next week that ties in with the second year of a local Project Fibonacci educational initiative, according to organizers of the local event..
The “Women & STEAM Speakers Series” will feature Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the book “Hidden Figures” that is the basis for a Hollywood movie of the same name, on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Stanley Theater in Utica.
Among sponsors for Shetterly’s appearance are the Project Fibonacci Foundation and ANDRO Computational Solutions LLC of Rome; ANDRO President Andrew L. Drozd developed the Project Fibonacci concept.
Other sponsors for her appearance include the Stanley, Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica College and the Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties.
The Project Fibonacci educational initiative was launched last summer with a week-long local STEAM Youth Conference attended by over 100 high school and college students.
The students participated in a variety of high-level workshops, team projects, tours and heard lectures from several nationally renown guest speakers including NASA astronaut Alan Bean and actor Alan Alda among them, organizers added..
A second Project Fibonacci STEAM Youth conference is planned for July 30-Aug. 5.
Among keynote speakers at the 2017 conference will be Deborah Berebichez, a host of the “Outrageous Acts of Science” program on the Discovery Channel and the first Mexican woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University; and Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York and an author who has hosted specials for the Discovery, History and Science channels.
Further details are being organized for that conference, which Drozd said is expected to involve about 200 students.
Student attendees are anticipated to come largely from Central New York and the North Country, said Dan Kostelec, STEAM outreach coordinator at ANDRO.
It will include a “more general focus on STEAM” topics, he said. For the “Women & Steam” theme, “we are working toward a…one-day mini-conference” in the spring of 2018, he added.
ANDRO officials noted the benefits of the Project Fibonacci initiative for area employers as well as students.
“Part of the reason we’re doing this” involves getting youths “interested in jobs here” or in creating their own companies, plus area companies who are interested in finding emerging employees and keeping them, Drozd said. For students, the program may help “get them hooked” on STEAM fields, and for area companies it can “benefit them,” he added.
ANDRO is seeking to encourage local companies and organizations to help sponsor Project Fibonacci events such as the summer conference, said Kostelec.
He said “more buy-in” from the community is needed, adding that the initiative has become a program “for this area” overall.
Tickets for the Jan. 20 appearance by Shetterly at the Stanley Theater in Utica are $25 general admission; $15 for college faculty and staff; $10 for college students; and high school groups can contact ANDRO at 334-1163.
Shetterly will be available for book signings and a “meet-and-greet” session after her 7 p.m. appearance, said Drozd. Doors will open by about 6:15 p.m., with music from the “Hidden Figures” movie being performed live in the lobby, said Kostelec.
Project Fibonacci is named after Middles Ages mathematician Leonardo Bonacci, whose nickname was Fibonacci.
