May 2022 Newsletter
Making Connections in the Omaha STEM Community
Friend of Science Award Winner
Congratulations to Julie Sigmon, OSE Director, and Chris Schaben, Curriculum and Instruction support at OPS, for being honored as a 2022 Friend of Science Award Winner by the Board of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Congratulations for this amazing recognition and we greatly appreciate all they are doing to advance STEM education and workforce in our community. Go to the website to learn about all that we are doing to build a stronger STEM community for tomorrow’s workforce.
Professional Development
Career growth is essential for educators and professionals. Professional development is learning new skills and information to help you grow and succeed personally and professionally. Many organizations offer professional development opportunities to help ensure that their knowledge and skills stay relevant. You can find your next professional development opportunity on the STEM Community Platform (SCP).
The SCP is an online resource guide of information and area events about STEM. Our community offers hundreds of STEM programs, events, and resources including programs for professionals and educators. The recent launch of the SCP has allowed community partners to come together to ensure access and equity in education for all students, educators and professionals. The Omaha STEM Ecosystem has the honor of presenting at the ICAN Women’s Leadership conference this year. At this event we would like to feature professional development opportunities. We invite you to be featured, by uploading your professional programs, resources, and training opportunities for professionals to the SCP.
It’s easy to upload your information: https://stemplatform.aiminstitute.org/
ICAN Women’s Leadership Conference 
The 2022 ICAN Women’s Leadership Conference is less than one month away! We are so excited to announce that Omaha STEM Ecosystem Director Julie Sigmon will join AIM Institute President and CEO Kandace Miller at ICAN to discuss how communities can benefit when organizations with similar missions come together for the greater good. The two leaders will give an overview of their collaborative partnership which helped create the STEM Community Platform, a hub of online resources and career exploration tools that expand equity in and access to STEM. Click here to register.
If you’re attending the ICAN Women’s Leadership Conference on May 18, keep an eye out for Goodwill Omaha’s GoodBytes team. We have partnered with them, SHARE Omaha and AIM to collect donated tech items from conference attendees, such as computers, tablets and accessories. This is part of our Wish List Wednesday for SHARE Omaha’s Do Good Days in May.
The GoodBytes team will collect devices, wipe them clean of personal data and then return refurbished items to Omaha STEM Ecosystem. We will then donate the tech devices to our nonprofit partners in STEM that include Prairie STEM and Made New Makerspace. It’s all part of our commitment to making STEM resources more accessible to youth.
For more information and to see what items are being accepted, visit https://icanconference.com/details/gently-used-tech-donation/
Join our efforts to ensure five more years of STEM excellence and innovation. Your time, talent and treasure will help move our work forward as we transform Omaha into a robust STEM community where our talent pipeline can grow.
From all of us at the Omaha STEM Ecosystem, thank you for your continued support in making STEM Learning and STEM careers a priority in the Omaha area!
Julie Sigmon, Director of the Omaha STEM Ecosystem
