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Chief Science Officers Program - Regional Conversations Part 2

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Chief Science Officers Program – Regional Conversations Part 2

Chief Science Officers elevate the student voice by bringing their peers and community leaders together to ignite new opportunities in STEM and innovation. The CSO program gives students a seat at the table as it empowers student voice to make a difference in STEM education. 

Teacher, Army Cavalry Scout, Writer, Marketing Director, fire fighter, and medical first responder have all led up to Jake Lounsbury becoming the Director of Global Partnerships for Chief Science Officers International.

Traveling around the globe to make connections, build partnerships and support active programs, Jake works to ensure the success of the program as it Global foot print expands. But even with all the adventure of travel, Jake stays focused on the mission of amplifying student voice and increasing excitement amoungst the future leaders of the world in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Caillou Pena is a senior at Skyline high school and second year CSO. He has been named as an 18 under 18 recipient by Junior Achievement and the Arizona Republic. Through the CSO program he traveled to Washington DC for the international summit and Hermosillo, Sonora, MX to attend Arizona-Mexico Commission’s governor’s signing.

He is passionate about the program because it teaches that any one can do anything, all one has to do is take the initiative. Before Caillou attends Carnegie Mellon University in the fall he will intern at the SciTech Institute working on the Chief Science Officer Organization.

Follow CSO on Facebook and Twitter.

The Intercultural Development Research Association is an independent, non-profit organization. Our mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college.

IDRA strengthens and transforms public education by providing dynamic training; useful research, evaluation, and frameworks for action; timely policy analyses; and innovative materials and programs. We are committed to the IDRA valuing philosophy, respecting the knowledge and skills of the individuals we work with and build on the strengths of the students and parents in their schools.

Michelle Martínez Vega is IDRA’s technology coordinator with more than 18 years of experience in designing, developing and administering professional development for educators at the state, regional and district levels. Her focus is driven by the desire to improve academic achievement through the use of technology. She strives to develop technology solutions that create equitable and sustainable learning environments for all students and educators.

Ms. Vega will continue to create and deliver professional technology support with the hope of helping others build their technology confidence and capacity. Key areas of Ms. Vega’s work includes designing, developing and training in technology integration, technical writing, and technology coaching and mentoring. She has served at the fourth-largest public school district in Texas, Northside ISD as a training and development technologist.

She led development, implementation and support of a wide variety of district technology initiatives for the district which comprises more than 100,000 students and 8,000 professional staff. Ms. Vega also served as digital resources specialist for the Texas Education Service Center, Region 20, where she was the official representative for multiple statewide programs, including Texas SUCCESS, TexQuest, Learn421 and Digital Knowledge Central (DKC).

She was responsible for all aspects of program implementation, including working with governing bodies to secure program funding and presenting at conventions, regional conferences and training events. Ms. Vega has a bachelor of science in applied science degree and performance improvement from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, with a concentration in human performance and development improvement in the workplace, project management, web design, and digital and business communications. She also has an associate’s degree in digital media, including web and graphic design, interactive media design and instructional design, from the Alamo Colleges, Northwest Vista.

She was a showcased designer at Northwest Vista for excellence in multimedia design for iPad general user interface (GUI). Ms. Vega has led training and presentations on such topics as: augmented reality, flipped classrooms, Google apps, digital storytelling, Google labs add-ons and extensions, and iPad configuration for shared environments. She was recognized by the Teachers Retirement System of Texas and San Antonio Water Systems in their monthly publications for data conversion project successes and acknowledged by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for excellence in program planning. She also was acknowledged by Texas Education Agency for excellence in website design.

Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Atlanta Science Festival Inc. is dedicated to bringing people together through the wonder of science. ASF produces an annual two-week science festival, and year-round programming, including the Georgia Chief Science Officers leadership development program for middle/high school students.

After vowing to never work with youth, Eric Knapp became a camp counselor in 2006. He became a full time program director in charge of facilitating team building experiences for youth before receiving a wilderness leadership certificate through Outward Bound.

He then moved to Atlanta to serve as a program director for C5 Georgia, a five-year youth leadership development program for high-potential youth coming from risk-filled environments.

His work with partner schools helped him understand the influence and impact of classroom teachers and he begin a new professional chapter as an 8th grade science teacher at Tucker Middle School. With DeKalb County Schools, he served as the STEM program coordinator for the first state-certified middle school STEM program in Georgia.

He is passionate about bringing classrooms, communities, and corporations together to create innovative and impactful learning experiences for students. As one of 25 teachers in the country selected as a Northrop Grumman Teachers Academy Fellow in 2015, he collaborated with representatives from NGC to develop lessons and teaching strategies to better prepare students for STEM careers. Furthermore, he has written STEM curriculum for schools in India and is on the design team for two STEM academies in China.

He has presented at several conferences including NSTA, ITEEA, GEETA, Georgia STEM Forum, Georgia Leadership Institute and The Georgia STEM Teacher Academy. Eric is now works with the Atlanta Science Festival and as the Regional Lead for the Georgia Chief Science Officer Program by establishing an environment in which students are continually coached to become effective leaders in their schools and communities.

He hopes to see each CSO that place where their giftings, talents, and passions come together to meet the needs of their community. His career has taught him to never underestimate the impact of a young person can make on the next generation.

Connect with Eric on LinkedIn, follow Atlanta Science Festival on Facebook and Georgia CSO on Twitter and Instagram.

Greater Oregon CSO supports 21 CSOs with nine advisers across the eastern region of Oregon. Our CSOs represent rural and remote communities along with small towns.

Abigail Southgate has a degree in education followed by a career of diverse teaching opportunities. She has substituted, taught with the Headstart program and elementary schools.

She has been a naturalist in our National Park Service, homeschooled her three children, and was a Math teacher for her local Community College.

She loves to facilitate others passions, which makes the position a perfect fit for her!