Building Omaha’s Future Leaders
January 2019
Celebrating STEM in Omaha
STEM Professional You Should Know!
Victoria Novak
Victoria Novak is the Director of Workforce & IT Innovation at Metropolitan Community College, Center for Advanced and Emerging Technology, a position that aims to drive public-private partnerships to enhance the Omaha area’s labor pool. Her role at MCC is to provide leadership to the Workforce Innovation Division, which focuses on advancing people and fueling business growth through accelerated learning opportunities. Victoria is currently in the Masters of Public Administration program at University of Nebraska at Omaha with a nonprofit concentration. She serves as the Engagement Committee Chairperson for the Omaha STEM Ecosystem, a VEX robotics judge, Council Member with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity & Inclusion Council (CODE), mentors young women at University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Women in IT Mentoring Program and Board Member of the Butler-Gast & Maple Street YMCA’s. Victoria is a recent empty-nester who loves traveling the world and passionate about cast-iron cooking in the outdoors.
Careers for the Future Event
January 23
Omaha STEM Ecosystem, in partnership with the Phi Delta Kappa Chapter and Educational Leadership Department at UNO hosted an evening on Careers for the Future. Key note speaker, Dr.Pamela Boyer, Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Simulation, iEXCEL/UNMC spoke on the topics of STEM and virtual reality. A panel of practitioners engaged local school board members, superintendents and community partners in a discussion around various topics including the skills that are needed for the VR careers today and in the future, and how do we prepare students for one of the leading new careers.
Math with an Artist
January 28
Math with an Artist, 3rd in 2018-2019 series of Math Circle events, in partnership with UNO Mathematic Department, featured Why Arts? and locally renowned artist, Mike Girón. Over 25 educators enjoyed an evening where they applied school content mathematics to careers.
Look for Mathematics in a Renaissance Game – February 12th; Math with an Engineer -March 26th
Metro and More: Omaha STEM Ecosystem
Omaha STEM Ecosystem would like to thank MCC and Randy Schmailzl for their on-going support of the STEM Ecosystem and for the opportunity to be a part of the Metro and More series. We look forward to being involved in more interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhIqLGtt0-Y&list=PLoBiPoBxyICBrzH_saql2RQ22lYPq–iu&index=191
Mark your Calendars
February 12 – Mathematics in a Renaissance Game/UNO/CEC Room 127
March 7th -Metro Science and Engineering Fair /OHDZA
March 26th -Math with an Engineer/Olsson
April 5th – 28th NE SciFest
April 26 -29 – City Nature Challenge/OHDZA and Omaha citywide
We want to celebrate STEM professionals in the Greater Omaha area. Do you know of someone who has an awesome job suing STEM applications in their everyday work? We would love to highlight them in our newsletter. Contact Julie Sigmon at: Julie.sigmon@omahazoo.com
