• DHS seeking student hackers

    DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano  on Tuesday said that due to “new and rapidly growing threats” of a cyberattack, hundreds of college-age hackers are needed to help deal with the massive number of daily incursions into the nation’s electrical grid and other critical infrastructure.

  • Budget cuts lead to uncertainty for military schools

    The sequestration has hit many federal agencies, but Defense Department schools and other military education programs  have more questions than  answers as to how the federal budget cuts will affect them.

  • New trends in cybersecurity and information security education

    The Federal Information Systems Security Educators’ Association (FISSEA)promotes cybersecurity awareness, training, and education. The annual meeting,to be held 19-21 March 2013 at NIST headquartersin Gaithersburg, Maryland, is geared toward both new and seasoned security officers, IT managers, information security educators and researchers, cybersecurity trainers and teachers, and those involved in instructional design and curriculum development.

  • New power engineering curriculum to help U.S. security, economy

    Nearly 40 percent of all energy consumed in the United States is first converted to electricity, with that figure expected to rise to as much as 70 percent in the future. Increasing the pipeline of graduates in electric power and energy has implications for both the country’s place in the global market and national defense. The more expertise there is at home, the less the United States will have to import talent and energy resources from overseas. An Office of Naval Research (ONR)-supported project is bringing sweeping changes to electric power and energy education at universities throughout the country, establishing first-time programs at some schools and bringing new courses and labs to others.

  • First grade math skills set foundation for later math competence

    Children who failed to acquire a basic math skill in first grade scored far behind their peers by seventh grade on a test of the mathematical abilities needed to function in adult life, according to a new study. NIH-funded study identifies fundamental skills needed for math functioning in adult life.

  • Girls perform as well as boys in math competitions

    The idea that boys are better at math and in competitions has persisted for a long time, and now we know why: Nobody bothered to schedule the rematch. New study finds that these supposed gender gap is just a product of first-round nerves.

  • High school students to compete in DOE National Science Bowl

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage students to excel in math and science and pursue careers in related fields. More than 200,000 students have participated in the National Science Bowl in the twenty-three years since its inception. Students from Los Alamos High School will represent New Mexico at the Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl in April.

  • Prof. strips, stabs stuffed animal to teach quantum mechanics

    Students who showed up for Monday’s quantum physics class of Professor Emlyn Hughes, a Columbia University physics professor, found out they were in for a new approach to teaching the week’s topic.

    As the students entered the classroom, they were greeted with the tune of Lil Wayne’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” As the students were taking their seats, Hughes removed his clothes, then changed into a black T-shirt and pants. He then sat down and hugged his knees in a fetal position before airing video footage of the 9/11 2001 terror attacks, and videos of aerial bombardments from the Second World War.

  • Salt Lake Community College to offer homeland security program

    According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, the need for emergency management professionals, protective service workers, and police and sheriff’s patrol officers is likely to increase more than 33 percent between 2011 and 2018. The Utah Board of Regents has approved the first Homeland Security and Emergency Management associate of applied degree in the state at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).

  • 2013 Summer Programs for Science Teachers open for applications

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is accepting applications for the 2013 NIST Summer Institute for Middle School Science Teachers and the Research Experience for Teachers programs. Both programs offer educators the chance to interact with and learn from top scientists and engineers, in classroom and laboratory settings. The application deadline is 20 March 2013.

  • NIST seeking partners for graduate fellowship programs in science, engineering, math

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking one or more qualified institutions or organizations to work with it in developing and implementing a fellowship program to afford doctoral-level graduate students opportunities to work at NIST laboratories on research topics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

  • Police experience enlivens classroom teaching

    Dennis Marsili spent twenty-seven years as a police officer in the Pittsburgh area, and has attained a vast amount of knowledge which he is now passing on to people who want to work in law enforcement in the future.

  • Fourth annual student robotic challenge held today

    NASA is joining the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and high school student teams from the United States and abroad for the fourth annual Zero Robotics SPHERES Challenge today, 11 January

  • Students overlooking more effective methods

    Some of the most popular study strategies — such as highlighting and even rereading – do not show much promise for improving student learning, according to a new report; while the ten learning techniques examined vary widely in effectiveness, two strategies — practice testing and distributed practice — made the grade, receiving the highest overall utility rating

  • Free STEM search engine is now mobile

    Gooru — a free search engine for learning that brings together science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational materials on the Web — developed the Gooru Collections iPad app to bring thousands of assorted multimedia resources to teachers and students on the go