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Support sought for innovative southern Arizona STEM teacher internship program

SALC and Science Foundation Arizona need your support for one of the most innovative internship programs in the country. The University of Arizona heads up the program as a major initiative of Tucson Values Teachers (TVT) and the University of Arizona. The program features a master’s degree for middle or high school science or math teachers, and includes a 6 – 8 week paid summer internship in a local business.

The program, the only teacher internship program in the country linked with a Master’s degree, is made possible through a grant from Science Foundation Arizona, with the salaries paid by local businesses making up the required matching funds. Funding from Science Foundation Arizona cover 75% of each teacher’s tuition at the UA for the Master’s program.  Participating businesses include Raytheon, Texas Instruments, General Plasma, Beach Fleischman and Fort Huachuca.

The program launched last year and has proved of great benefit to both the teachers and businesses. Every participating business in 2009 reported great benefit from having a highly skilled professional in their workforce. In addition, the UA program works to incorporate these integrated skills into the curriculum. Every business from 2009 has returned in 2010 with high praise for the program, and for the individual teachers they employed last summer. Every business wanted “their teacher” back in 2010.

We have funding for eight additional slots in 2010, and we invite you to be part of this program. Each business pays the intern industry wages, which on average has totaled between $5000 and $10,000 for the 6 – 8 week session.  This year’s summer session will begin the last week of May and run through early August, depending on the schedule of each teacher’s school district. In addition, each business is provided at least two teacher resumes and the opportunity to interview the candidates.

Southern Arizona is leading the way with this innovative program, which is central to SALC’s educational focus. For additional information on how you can benefit from a highly qualified K-12 teacher this summer, contact TVT’s Executive Director, Jacquelyn Jackson, at 520-327-7619 or at jjackson@tucsonvaluesteachers.org.

Nominate an Arizona STEM education “Innovation Hero” today

Innovation Heroes are educators and students who are making significant strides in science, technology, engineering, and math education.  Innovation Heroes are from schools anywhere in Arizona, in metro or rural parts of the state, and can be nominated by anyone -- fellow students, teachers, parents, administrators, or members of the community. 

Innovation Heroes is one of Science Foundation Arizona's most popular community outreach programs, as winners are not only recognized for their outstanding achievements, but also awarded a monetary prize for their work ($500 for teachers/educators and a savings bond worth $1000 for students).  It is a way for us to highlight STEM successes in our state and showcase the schools and individuals responsible for great things that are happening in Arizona education every day. 

For more information about the criteria and to submit a nomination, visit the SFAz website and download the Innovation Heroes form.  Simply fill it in, complete the brief essay portion, and send it back to us at hwilkinson@sfaz.org.  The program is ongoing and statewide, so the more nominations SFAz receives, the more winners SFAz can honor. 

If you have any questions or need more information on Innovation Heroes, contact Darcy Renfro at drenfro@sfaz.org or Caroline VanIngen-Dunn at cvaningen-dunn@sfaz.org.

Arizona Academic Decathlon seeks funding after cuts

Ray Parker, Arizona Republic, March 1, 2010

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/03/01/20100301decathlon0301.html

For 25 years, Arizona's Academic Decathlon has pitted the best and brightest students in a contest of the mind. This year, it will involve more than 1,000 students from 100 high schools across the state. But next month's state finals may be bittersweet, and the next year's may be just plain bitter.

The Arizona Department of Education has cut $82,400 from the program, or slightly more than half of the event's total budget, which could kill scholarships or even sink the program entirely.

An anonymous supporter has promised $10,000 in matching contributions from any new donors by March 31, but in the current economy, $80,000 is a tall order.  "We have enough in reserves for this year," said Anne Edelstein, the AAD executive director. "We'll continue to fundraise for next year, maybe have team fees…but we may not be able to raise it."

Schools of all forms participate, whether public, charter, private or parochial. Last year, about 170 Arizona students received nearly $150,000 in college scholarships.

Each year, the organization chooses a theme - this year it's the French Revolution - and the students focus on the topic.

Decathletes, 50 percent of whom are minorities, are challenged to use analytical skills, performance abilities and test-taking in 10 subjects: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, speech and the Super Quiz (social science).

The program is both a class and an after-school activity for many participants, who are divided into three categories: students with a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher; 3.0 to 3.74; and below 3.0.

The competition culminates in the Super Quiz, where contestants go head-to-head in answering questions, while their supporters cheer them on.  "In 15 years of education, I have never found a program with the kind of potential… to push students to new limits," said William Kibler, AD coach at Cesar Chavez High in Phoenix.

"To an outside observer, the tests may seem to be a mere compilation of trivia and facts about the year King Louis XVI was beheaded or the first book written by Rousseau or the primary patron of Joseph Haydn. In reality, Academic Decathlon uses these obscure details to teach students how to learn and learn at a greater depth than the students ever thought possible."

The Arizona Academic Decathlon finals will be held March 12-13 at Sandra Day O'Connor High in Phoenix. Two events are open to the public on Saturday: the Super Quiz at 1:45 p.m. and the awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m.

The winning team will compete at the national competition on April 21-24 in Omaha, Neb.

Educators say Governor’s proposed state budget would cripple Career & Technical Education programs

Naomi Hatch, AZJournal.com, February 24th, 2010

Source: http://www.azjournal.com/news/126/ARTICLE/5121/2010-02-24.html

The governor’s budget is causing concern for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The proposed cuts will leave $57,700 of the $11,492,700 in the Vocational Education Block Grant.  This could have an impact on the Snowflake School District, because if that grant is cut, the district will also lose a federal grant, explained Superintendent Hollis Merrell.  “It could potentially impact NAVIT (Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology),” he said.
    

Merrell explained that for every dollar school districts receive through State Education Block Grant funding, an additional $2.34 is received from Carl D. Perkins federal funding, so this could take $25.9 mil-lion of the Carl D. Perkins funding from the CTE program in Arizona. The state has to show maintenance of effort in order to receive the Carl D. Perkins grant, and would not be able to do so if the block grant was cut. The loss of these funds could potentially force schools involved with NAVIT to close programs, and cause similar problems throughout the state.
    

The potential loss would include $11,492,000 in state funding and $25.9 million from federal Carl D. Perkins funding for a total of $36.9 million statewide. “Certainly it would negatively impact us,” said Merrell, noting it could cause them to close programs because there would not be adequate funding.  
    

Classes offered in the district that would be affected include agriculture and Future Farmers of America, information technology (Cisco networking), digital media (broadcasting), business, construction trades, graphic arts, and graphic design.
     

All NAVIT classes would be affected, including cosmotology, health related occupations, auto, fire science, education professions, and several others.
    

Alan Ramage, CTE director for the Snowflake School District, said that the district has $92,730.64 al-located block grant funds for fiscal year 2009 and $41,341.81 allocated for the 2010 fiscal year.
    

He noted that there are 522 students in the district participating in CTE classes, with 76 students having taken a course for two or more consecutive years in a particular class. There are 4,287 participating students in the 10 school districts in Navajo County that participate in CTE.  Without these funds, it will become very difficult to offer these programs.
    

There are 1,670 CTE program courses offered in 72 occupational programs for 104,628 students in 328 high schools and 137 school districts in Arizona.  Arizona provides 15 percent of the Carl D. Perkins federal funds to 10 community college districts in Arizona that have 44,610 occupational students who complete 12 credit hours funded through these funds.
    

Students participating in these programs can graduate from high school with a trade and they could earn 12 college credit hours upon completion. The proposed funding cuts could cause the loss of those pro-grams.
    

Statistics show that 94 percent of the students who complete a CTE program meet or exceed the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) reading standard, 92 percent meet or exceed the AIMS math standard, and 95 percent meet or exceed the AIMS writing standard, which exceeds the scores made by other students in high school, and 68 percent of students completing a CTE program last year were placed in community colleges, jobs or in the military.
    

Standards for the CTE programs are created by the industry, and the National Report Card for Education published by the U.S. Department of Education gave a grade of A- for Arizona Standards and Assessments, including both CTE and academic activities.
    

Loss of these programs could also cause a loss of jobs held by secondary CTE administrators, staff and teachers.  “What I’ve heard today (Feb. 18) is that they are getting the message,” said Merrell, noting legislators have heard from plenty of people who want to keep the CTE program.
    

You are encouraged to contact state legislators to express your concerns at http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp.  For more information on this issue, go online to http://www.acova.org

INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. announces positive results from the pivotal phase III efficacy trial for patients utilizing the Fentanyl Sublingual Spray (SL Spray) technology to treat breakthrough cancer pain.  All primary and secondary endpoints were achieved in the study, and the drug is the first product to ever show statistically significant pain relief when measuring the summary of pain intensity difference at five minutes (SPID(5)) in a phase III breakthrough cancer pain trial using Fentanyl.

Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced that it is collaborating with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and US Oncology to sequence the genomes of 14 patients afflicted with triple negative breast cancer whose tumors have progressed despite multiple other therapies.

The goal of this first-of-its-kind research collaboration is to demonstrate whether genomic sequencing of cancer tissue can provide clues for treatment strategies for these individuals.

While genomic sequencing has made great strides in helping researchers understand human disease, its clinical utility is not fully known. This research study brings together the accuracy of the Applied Biosystems SOLiD™ System, with US Oncology’s expertise in cancer trials and TGen’s Cancer Genome and Oncology programs, to provide additional information for oncologists and their patients. Triple negative tumors, which make up nearly 20 percent of breast cancers, do not respond to treatment with common targeted breast cancer therapies such as Herceptin.

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, University of Arizona and Arizona State University researchers have shown a new, exclusive way to dramatically conserve the amount of water needed to manufacture semiconductors.

Using a unique device called Electro-Chemical Residue Sensor (ECRS), it allows for clean, rinse and dry process optimization that helps make semiconductor facilities more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective.

Water conservation in semiconductor facilities is becoming a major concern for integrated device manufacturers (IDM), as the costs, availability, and sustainability of water resources can greatly affect manufacturing facilities. Approximately 80 percent1 of water consumed by semiconductor sites is used in the rinsing of the wafer during various stages of device fabrication. Additionally, a wafer going through a modern semiconductor process is rinsed roughly 400 times, according to industry experts

ImmuneRegen BioSciences Inc.®, a wholly owned subsidiary of IR Biosciences Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: IRBS), today announced the submission of an application for Orphan Drug Product Designation for the company's lead compound, Homspera®, for the application of treating Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a deadly pulmonary disease with no FDA-approved treatments.

The United States Orphan Drug Act was created in 1983 to provide incentives for companies to develop and market treatments for diseases or conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The designation provides eligibility for a seven-year period of market exclusivity in the United States after product approval, a waiver of user fees, the potential for grant funding, and tax benefits for clinical trials. Many orphan products receive expedited review or accelerated approval because they are for serious or life-threatening diseases.

A new study has found the addition of long-acting beta-agonist therapy to be the most effective of three step-up, or supplemental, treatments for children whose asthma is not well controlled on low doses of inhaled corticosteroids alone. 

The study was designed to provide needed evidence for selecting step-up care for such children and was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.  Researchers also identified patient characteristics, such as race, that can help predict which step-up therapy is more likely to be the most effective for a child with persistent asthma.

The study found that almost all of its participants had a different response to the three different treatments.  Although adding the long acting beta-agonist step-up was one and one-half times more likely to be the best treatment for most of the study group, many children responded best to other two treatments instead. 

Dimebon, a once-promising new Alzheimer's drug from Pfizer Inc., may be no more effective than a placebo at treating the disease, according to late-stage clinical data released by the company Wednesday.

But while this news comes as a shock to many and a disappointment to all in the Alzheimer's community, some experts say the game's not over yet for Dimebon.

"The need for new therapies is huge and we should not be daunted by a single failed trial," says Dr. Pierre Tariot, associate director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. "The field…is littered with examples of trials that fail to show benefit even with drugs that work and are FDA approved. From my perspective, the drug needs to be studied further."

Helios-TGen Scholar earns tuition waiver at ASU; program applications now available

[Source: Helios Education Foundation] -- Helios Education Foundation invested over $6.5 million in the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to create and support the Helios Scholars Program, an internship program at TGen, for the next 25 years. Each summer, 45 high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students come to participate in a hands-on internship at TGen where they are introduced to high-tech bioscience research.

One recent Helios TGen Scholar, Sarah Albinda, has been named to the 2010 Coca-Cola All-State Academic Team, earning a two-year tuition waiver that will enable her to complete her science education at Arizona State University. Without the award, Albinda said, she would not have enough money to seek her bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences after graduating this spring with an Associate in Science Degree from Phoenix College.

The academic competition is sponsored by Arizona Phi Theta Kappa, the American Association of Community Colleges, USA TODAY and Coca-Cola, and recognizes outstanding community college students for their commitment to academic achievement, leadership and community service.

"There is no way I could have won without participating in the Helios Scholars program at TGen. Here, I have so many resources available, and that gave me a significant advantage, including competitive hands-on experience and access to amazing people," said Albinda, who works in the laboratory of Dr. Heather Cunliffe, Head of TGen's Breast and Ovarian Cancer Research Unit.

Albinda said she did not have the money to continue her education without taking out a loan and putting undue financial pressure on her family. Winning the award solved that problem.

"When I heard about this scholarship, I thought, ‘Wow, this is my dream.' Personally, it means a lot to be able to pay for my own education. My goal is to be able to graduate without ever having to take out a loan for tuition," Albinda said. Albinda plans to become a medical doctor, using what she has learned at TGen to help cancer patients.

Albinda's mentor, TGen Research Associate Catherine Mancini said Albinda's success is a credit to the Helios program and the high-caliber research opportunities provided by TGen.

"Helios provides a whole new level of opportunity for students. It is a diverse program and this is a diverse job,'' Mancini said. "We were excited to work with Sarah because of her interdisciplinary skills which we needed for her position as a biospecimen technician in our laboratory. Because of her abilities, she was able to continue her internship and extend her skills at TGen. She has definitely exceeded our expectations."

TGen is on the cutting edge of translational research where investigators are able to unravel the genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. TGen is affiliated with the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Helios Scholars Program Applications Now Available

The Helios Scholars Program at TGen is an eight week paid internship where students work under the mentorship of an experienced investigator and their scientific teams. Interns conduct authentic research, receive training in biosafety, ethics, career choices and science communication, give an oral presentation to their peers on their research, and create and present a scientific poster.

The application for the upcoming summer internship is now available.

Students participating in the internship will work to elucidate the mysteries and mechanisms of genetic diseases such as Alzheimer's, ALS, autism, breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma and diabetes, as well as infectious diseases such as influenza.

The program capstone includes participation in a formal symposium where interns communicate the findings of their research and reflect on what they have learned and accomplished throughout their tenure at TGen.

Past interns boast an array of impressive accomplishments - publishing scientific abstracts and articles, and gaining acceptance into medical and graduate schools.

For more information and to access the application, click here.

The director of the University of Arizona's newly-formed Clinical and Translational Science Institute hopes the research hub, along with other recently-completed and planned facility projects, will succeed where two past attempts failed in winning for the university a long-sought membership in the National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Science Awards consortium.

The new institute plans to hire seven clinician-scientists over the next three years, using $6 million committed by UA for a translational biomedicine program, institute director Fernando Martinez told GenomeWeb Daily News. Each clinician-scientist is expected to have working with them five to eight postdocs, graduate students, and staffers.

Capstone Therapeutics announced today it has completed a limited analysis of a subset of data from one of its two ongoing AZX100 Phase 2a clinical trials in keloid scarring. The clinical trial will continue to its planned 12-month endpoints.

The company's goals for this analysis were to assess AZX100 ongoing safety, to evaluate the quality of the clinical trial dataset in order to guide future studies and to determine whether continuation of the trial would be futile from a statistical perspective

Survey: Educators aren’t discussing STEM careers with students

Students say content is interesting, but teachers don't promote career options

By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

Feb 25th, 2010

Teachers say they don't have the time or the resources to discuss STEM career options with their students.

In a recent survey, a majority of students said that while their science and math teachers seem knowledgeable and keep class interesting, they aren’t teaching about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career options. High school students also said they don’t believe STEM knowledge is integral to getting a good job, which doesn’t bode well for leaders counting on STEM education to keep the nation at the forefront of the global economy.

Spurred by the Obama administration’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign—a nationwide effort by U.S. companies, foundations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to help move America to the top of the pack in math and science education—the American Society for Quality (ASQ) commissioned market research firm Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey to uncover how well teachers transfer their knowledge and passion for science and math to their students and inspire them to pursue STEM careers.

The survey, conducted in December, asked more than a thousand students in grades 3-12 to provide a scaled report card (with grades ranging from A-F) on their science teachers’ classroom skills and activities.

Although 85 percent of students said their teachers deserve at least a “B” when it comes to knowledge about science topics (55 percent of students gave their teachers an “A”), 63 percent of high school students said their teachers are not doing a good job of talking to them about engineering careers (”C” or lower), and 42 percent of high school students said their teachers don’t ably demonstrate how science can be used in a career (”C” or lower).

Also, students in grades 7-12 are less likely than third through sixth graders to believe a person needs to be skilled science and math to get a good paying job (66 percent vs. 80 percent).

“We believe that as students get older and begin to diversify their studies and become more aware of the wide range of available career opportunities, they start to think that math and science aren’t necessarily critical to their job hunt,” said Maurice Ghysels, chair of ASQ’s Education Advisory Council.

“In some cases, a contributing factor is that some teachers aren’t doing all they can to connect the dots between the math [and] science work that students are doing on a daily basis and how it relates to the real world and their future careers.”

To read the full article, click on http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/25/educators-not-discussing-stem-careers/

2009 estimates projected that in the United States alone 21,550 new cases of ovarian cancer would be diagnosed and 14,600 women would die of the disease. Often diagnosed in late stages, ovarian cancer has an asymptomatic onset and a relatively low 5-year survival rate of about 45%. Consequently investigation linked to survivorship is critical. A study published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is among the first to evaluate possible diet associations with ovarian cancer survival. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago determined that there is a strong relationship between healthy eating and prolonged survival.