Science Center Honors CBIA Education & Workforce Partnership

The Connecticut Science Center’s Women in Science Committee will award its 2017 STEM Achievement Award to the CBIA Education & Workforce Partnership.
The award recognizes achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

“We are thrilled to be the recipient of this significant award, which represents all of the hard work and commitment my colleagues demonstrate on a daily basis,” said partnership executive director Andrea Comer.
“STEM education is critical to developing our future talent and growing our state’s economy, and our work is meant to inspire and encourage the next generation of leaders.”
In addition to Comer, partnership members include Lisa Buongiorno, Shari Cousin, Jennifer Duggan, Deb Presbie, Dayl Walker, and Therese Wallace.
The partnership works on a variety of projects. In Hartford, the group works with two schools–the Academy of Engineering and Green Technology and Rawson Lighthouse School.

Real-World Internships

A National Academy Foundation-sponsored Hartford Public School, the Academy of Engineering & Green Technology provides real-world internships for students at member businesses, offers transformative project-based learning experiences, and incorporates ongoing access to businesses through its advisory board.
The partnership helped create the Academy of Engineering and Green Technology at Hartford Public High School.
CBIA staff and member companies, along with community members, parents, students, and faculty at the high-school, college, and university levels, worked to plan and design this small learning community.
The partnership serves as the Rawson Lighthouse project manager, administering a Department of Education grant to develop resources, support, and partnerships improve academic outcomes and develop a pipeline to the Academy of Engineering and Green Technology.
The project ties STEM education to real life, showing students how those subjects are applied in everyday ways and their connection connected to good careers.
The partnership also works to expand the public’s perception of STEM careers to include often overlooked and undervalued jobs in manufacturing—one of Connecticut’s most important economic sectors.

Promoting Manufacturing

The Connecticut Community Colleges’ College of Technology’s Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing and the partnership work together to promote manufacturing in Connecticut’s secondary and post-secondary schools.
“As leaders in our community, the work that our entire honorees and finalists do is of critical importance in shaping the young minds and innovative leaders of tomorrow,” said Amy Sailor, advancement program manager for the Connecticut Science Center.
“We are grateful to them for their work.”
Other honorees include:

• Petit Family Foundation Women in Science Leadership Award (Claudine Phaire of Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin)
• STEM Achievement Awards (Individual: Carolyn Begnoche of Pratt & Whitney)
• STEM Achievement Awards (Organization: CBIA Education & Workforce Partnership)

The honorees and finalists will be honored at the STEM Achievement Awards Breakfast at the Connecticut Science Center on Tuesday, April 25.