Center for Improved Engineering & Science Education [CIESE] celebrates 15 years of lessons through technology

The Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) will celebrate 15 years of bringing math and science into K-12 classrooms though the newest and most effective technologies during a gala dinner and awards ceremony, this evening at Stevens Institute of Technology.

The keynote speaker at the event is the New Jersey Commissioner of Education William L. Librera. He will speak about the relevance of the center's efforts to the pressing needs of technology education in the State of New Jersey.

The anniversary dinner and ceremony will be held beginning this evening at 5 p.m. in the 4th Floor Bissinger Room at the Wesley J. Howe Center on the Stevens campus, one block east of 8th Street and Castle Point Terrace in Hoboken, N.J. Press are welcome to attend. For directions and parking information, please contact Pat Slater at 201-216-5375 or email pdonnell@stevens.edu.

Among the honored guests:

Dr. Gayle W. Griffin, who joined the Newark Public Schools as Associate Superintendent of the Teaching and Learning Department in August 2000. As Associate Superintendent, she is responsible for the academic areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for Language Arts Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, World Languages and Bilingual Programs, Health and Physical Education, Instructional Technology, and Early Childhood Education. Her department's major goal is the improvement of student achievement as measured by NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards. The Teaching and Learning department provides technical support to schools to implement the district's Education Plan.

Griffin's friendship with CIESE was cemented through her expert implementation of a Newark schools' teacher-training program, made possible through a major New Jersey High-Tech Workforce Excellence Grant to CIESE in 2000. Gayle has been a staunch proponent of improved science and technology education throughout her distinguished career, and she is counted among the very best friends of CIESE.

Jo Ann Dow-Breslin manages Community Affairs at Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSEG). She is responsible for developing funding strategies and partnerships with community and educational organizations, encouraging and rewarding employee volunteerism, managing employee giving programs, and making known to the public the company's involvement in the community.

During her 23-year career with PSEG, Dow-Breslin has worked, not only in the area of K-12 education, but also in the fields of economic development, consumer education, and customer relations. Prior to joining PSEG, she held positions in the field of nutrition education.

Dow-Breslin was the first representative of corporate philanthropy to see the promise of CIESE and its vision of technology-based education. Working with CIESE Director Dr. Edward A. Friedman, she was instrumental in securing initial funding for the first programs developed by CIESE for New Jersey public schools. Since that time, she and PSEG have proved to be steadfast friends of CIESE and Stevens.

CIESE has helped more than 700 schools in New Jersey realize the benefits of class-room-based technology. Current programs involve collaborations in New Jersey and four other states to train more than 10,000 teachers. CIESE is also implementing a demonstration project sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to reach schools in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru with its acclaimed teacher training programs that emphasize use of Internet-based real time data for improved science education.

There are approximately 7,000 teachers nationwide who are trained using CIESE approaches and curriculum materials. To date, CIESE materials have impacted approximately 500,000 students in grades K-12. In spring 2001, there were 329 schools, in 15 countries, participating in CIESE online curriculum projects, totaling more than 10,000 students worldwide.

CIESE is working with schools in Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica toward developing in students a deeper understanding of science and the ability to use technology in education. As in its US programs, this project, "Proyecto Ciberaprendiz," uses data from the Internet and specially designed, Internet-based curriculum units in the classroom. In addition, CIESE is advising the three countries, all of whose ministers of education are integrally involved in this project, to help them grasp the important role of the Internet in education and the competitive edge it can create in each country's population.

For more information about CIESE, please visit ciese.org.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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