STEM Career Connections

Principal Investigator: John Ristvey
Funder: National Science Foundation 

Short Summary:

The STEM Career Connections project is a partnership between the UCAR Center for Science Education, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the Vail Valley Foundation. This project aims to develop an innovative career readiness model for both in and out of school settings that will profoundly increase the knowledge of and interest in STEM and computing careers for middle school youth in rural, economically disadvantaged mountain state communities. To achieve this goal, we have three integral components of the project: 1) a community partnership working together to support youth engagement in STEM and computing career pathways, 2) a STEM curriculum where youth use advanced sensor technologies to engage in science and engineering investigations, and 3) integrated career experiences that encourage youth to make personally-relevant connections with local STEM and computing occupations. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project aims to advance the efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program.