About

The very first meeting of the group that would become the Greater Southern Tier STEM Learning Network was held on September 21, 2005 kicked off with this opening statement: “Life is a technology-driven enterprise: If so, then an interest in and an understanding of the embedded importance of science, technology, engineering and math to life-long learning and success is ‘mission critical’”. Today the network is an active consortium of leaders and laity from PreK-12 education, Higher Education, Business and Industry and Science Museums on a mission to reenergize, revitalize and refocus attention, interest and understanding of the embedded importance of STEM to life-long learning and success. This mission is informed by our regional priorities as they pertain to STEM education. The priorities are fidelity of implementation and sustainability, regional assessment, development and/or deployment of STEM curricula at all grade levels, maintenance of R & D databases for data-driven decision making and the creation of systems solutions. Together, these priorities drive the realization of our primary objective: To significantly increase the numbers of STEM-capable GST graduates in general and, in particular, the numbers of students from GST schools who enter the workforce in the areas of science, engineering and advanced manufacturing.