Melanie Shimano ’14, MSE ’15, is the founder and director of the Food Computer Program, a STEM-based initiative that teaches Baltimore City high school students to build and code “Food Computers,” which control and monitor tabletop greenhouses that grow vegetables.
The observation window at Goddard Space Flight Center looks out onto the world’s largest clean room, where a gleaming golden hexagon is hoisted on display — a mirror segment left over from Kenneth Harris’ most recent project.
The annual Tower of Power contest challenges teams of undergraduates, graduate students, staff members, alumni, and area middle school students to engineer the tallest possible towers from uncooked pasta and marshmallows.
“For many families, myriad small logistical and financial barriers add up to giant roadblocks that limit the access these kids have to summer STEM programming,” says Johns Hopkins environmental engineer Ciaran Harman.
One robot that can retrieve objects drifting into deep water using a whirligig beetle’s swimming ability. Another that can deliver letters and greeting cards with the speed and grace of a dragonfly. Both were among the “Robo-Bugs” imagined and designed by third graders at Barclay Elementary/Middle School last fall.
In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore City Public Schools has adopted a program to strengthen STEM instruction in the district’s elementary schools.
Elementary school children in grades three through five across Baltimore City have been receiving specialized instruction in STEM, thanks to a partnership between the city schools and Johns Hopkins’ schools of Engineering and Education
Daniel Naiman, professor of applied mathematics and statistics, explains why music could have the power to entice more young people into STEM fields.