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Performances on stage entertain and educate audiences with amazing and fascinating experiments and demonstrations.
Visitors can engage in hands-on activities and interactive demonstrations from a diverse array of exhibitors and organizations. They represent corporations, nonprofit organizations, K12 schools, colleges and universities. This year’s roster of STEM Day at the State Fair participants includes:
Thanks to our sponsors - MTS Systems, HB Fuller, 3M, Boston Scientific, Medtronic Foundation, ATK, University of Minnesota and Minnesota Department of Education - and the planning team for making STEM Day at the Fair possible!
State Fair Planning Team
Katie Staub, Seagate, Chairperson
Tim Barrett, STEM Ahead
Ron Bennett, St. Thomas University
Dennis Harvey, MTS Systems Corp.
Anne Hornickel, University of Minnesota
Julie Michener, St. Catherine University
Cheryl Moeller, STEM Ahead
Carolyn Williams, St. Cloud State University
Joe Passofaro
For more information, visit STEM Day at the State Fair on Facebook!
Bush Fellowship Awarded to Anne Hornickel for Development of the Minnesota STEM Network
 The Bush Foundation in Saint Paul has recently announced its 2011 fellowships to 18 community leaders in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Among them is Anne Hornickel, recognized for her work in 2010 toward establishing the network as well as future plans to expand the network across Minnesota. Anne’s fellowship over the next two years will allow her time to work on two principal tasks:
- foster the development of smaller scale networks or hubs in regions of Minnesota, similar to the well-developed Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership
- develop a framework for articulating the state of STEM education in Minnesota.
The fellowship will also provide travel funds to promote network development across the state and to network with other state STEM networks. Promoting regional hub development will take place in collaboration with the Minnesota High Tech Association as it hosts STEM summits across the state in 2011-12.
Boston Scientific Funds Strategic Planning Phase
 To advance the strategic development of the Minnesota STEM Network, this spring SciMathMN approached Boston Scientific for support for strategic planning. In April, Boston Scientific awarded a $179,100 grant to SciMathMN which will allow SciMathMN to engage the LarsonAllen consultants in strategic planning for the network. Marilee Grant, director of community relations for Boston Scientific, announced the grant at the April 21st annual meeting.
All involved in the network agree that education, business, and community engagement in STEM will be critical to Minnesota’s economic development. For Minnesota to remain competitive across a broad range of industries, STEM must be a strength. The Minnesota STEM Network is committed to making STEM a competitive advantage for Minnesota. The Minnesota STEM Network is now at a point where it needs a strategic plan which will both expand and focus the work of the organization while building buy-in and engagement from a broad range of constituents. More specifically, the strategic plan is intended to bring clarity to:
- A pathway to impact: Where and how can the Minnesota STEM Network add the greatest value to Minnesota’s STEM needs, especially at the interface of education, business, and economic development in STEM?
- A pathway to synergy: How can the data and “program inventory” of the Minnesota STEM Network be used to provide synergy and value, beyond information?
- A pathway to stakeholder support: What will cause the institutional and individual leaders in STEM across the State to support the work of the Minnesota STEM Network . . . with their time, talent, and treasury?
- A pathway to financial sustainability: How can SciMathMN and the Minnesota STEM Network build and sustain the resource base needed to implement the initiatives identified in the strategic plan? What is the financial future of the organization?
The LarsonAllen team is working with a 13-member steering committee consisting of SciMathMN board members, Leadership Team members, and four members of the STEM community at large to guide the strategic planning and reflect upon the input received. For this strategic planning, LarsonAllen will:
- carry out a survey with those in the network database on buy-in of the mission/vision, goals and strategies established in 2010;
- conduct a number of one-on-one interviews with stakeholders;
- carry out group interviews with stakeholders in STEM education in regions around the state;
- carry out several case studies of how other state STEM networks have become established.
The strategic plan is expected to be substantially complete by October, 2011. LarsonAllen will present their findings to a joint meeting of the SciMathMN board and the Minnesota STEM Network Leadership Team.
Annual Meeting Highlights
 Over 175 educators, informal educators, and representatives of business, government and cultural community organizations attended the second annual Minnesota STEM Network meeting on Thursday, April 21, 2011 at Boston Scientific in Maple Grove. Leadership team member Jerry Sosinske and Boston Scientific’s STEM Council hosted the daylong meeting. The meeting featured networking, plenary presentations, breakout sessions, and a poster session on successful programs promoting STEM to girls and underrepresented students. Plenary presentations featured Beth Aune, Director of Academic Standards and P-20 Initiatives, Minnesota Dept of Education (MDE), Margaret Anderson Kelliher, President and CEO of the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA), Randy Johnson, President of the Rochester Math and Science Partnership (RAMSP), Sally Standiford, Executive Director of SciMathMN, and Doug Paulson, STEM Specialist, Minnesota Dept of Education.
 Dr. Aune highlighted MDE’s initiatives to increase student achievement in STEM fields. Ms. Anderson-Kelliher provided an overview of the employment outlook in STEM in the next decade. Randy Johnson described the history and initiatives of the Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership. This partnership of 18 years involving IBM, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Public Schools, Winona State University and 13 regional school districts in SE Minnesota is dedicated to the professional development and support of area teachers, students, and communities through quality STEM education.
 Sally Standiford described SciMathMN’s Frameworks project which provides background and pedagogy on each of the new science and math standards. She then introduced Marilee Grant, director of community relations of Boston Scientific who announced Boston Scientific’s support toward the Minnesota STEM Network. She announced $179,100 grant to SciMathMN which will fund the involvement of LarsonAllen consultants toward six months of strategic planning (see adjacent article). Doug Paulson provided an illustration of how the network aims to compile a website which will represent the numerous STEM initiatives in Minnesota.
 Breakout sessions featured discussions on business-schoolpartnerships, research in STEM education, engaging girls, and engagement and career pathways in STEM.
The afternoon featured a brief address by Senator Al Franken, who expressed support for the network and offered his perspective on the value of STEM to Minnesotans and his current initiatives relevant to STEM in the U.S. Senate.
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