SciTech Institute STEM and Innovation Summit with State Farm and Common Science
Take part in the future and interact with some of Arizona’s most influential thinkers at the 2019 STEM and Innovation Summit held in Scottsdale, Arizona.
This year’s statewide conference brought together Arizona’s key stakeholders in business, industry, education, government, NGO, the community to:
- Share best practices, lessons and stories from the field
- Experience the latest in Arizona technology and innovation
- Build unique and diverse STEM networks
- Discuss how we can work as connected ecosystem to improve public STEM awareness and improve workforce readiness
State Farm is an insurance/financial company. Their mission is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams.
Karl Cardenas is an Architecture Manager at State Farm. He is responsible for Public Cloud architecture and the Public Cloud Developer evangelism team. He has a broad IT background, both in infrastructure and application development. He has been with State Farm for the past 5 years, where he started out as an intern.
Common Science is a scientific publishing company with the goal to simplify, clarify, and market high-quality scientific literature.
Christian Chavez Pimentel likes writing, boxing, and playing video games in his spare time. He is persistent and competitive in the things he wants, and is so optimistic that it’s almost annoying.
Learn more about SciTech on their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
In your professional opinion, how can we better work as a connected ecosystem to improve public STEM awareness and improve workforce readiness?
Karl: Recognizing that future workforce demands, particularly in STEM fields, are not the responsibility of any one entity. There must be a partnership with industry, the academic community, and civic leaders, in order to continue to promote STEM awareness, inspire students to consider STEM careers, and improve workforce readiness.
Christian: The best way for this to be accomplished is by making the STEM field more approachable. There seems to be some dynamic between the STEM fields in the general public that is based on distrust, among other things.
In what ways are you and your organization involved in STEM education and/or the SciTech Institute?
Karl: State Farm’s STEM vision is to: Build and strengthen IT awareness for students to generate excitement, interest and participation in STEM careers. Strategically engage at a local level in STEM activities and events in each of State Farm’s four hub locations to further promote IT STEM in the community. (Bloomington, IL; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Phoenix, AZ) Actively educate and encourage students to enter STEM fields and become lifelong learners to help meet technology workforce demands of the future. Attract and recruit STEM students for internships and future employment with State Farm.
Christian: We directly deal with education, the main purpose of the company is to educate. By simplifying peer reviewed science articles, we make this type of literature much easier to consume, thus creating a more informed democracy.
