The Central California STEM Collaborative Spring Symposium will showcase some of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs at Fresno State and promote dialogue among educators from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, March 5.

The free, public event presented by Fresno State’s Mathematics and Science Teacher Initiative (MSTI) will be at the Center for Irrigation Technology (5370 N. Chestnut Ave.).  On-site parking is free.

Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro will welcome guests to the symposium and briefly describe the STEM developments on the campus such as the Jordan Research Center and the new STEM concentration for liberal studies majors.

Dr. Carol Fry Bohlin, symposium coordinator and initiative director, said the mission of the Central California STEM Collaborative is to build strong partnerships among the business and industry, nonprofit and education communities to strengthen K-18 STEM education in the Central Valley and support the production of STEM-capable graduates for the 21st-century workplace.

At the event, three presentations will be featured:

The ‘E’ in STEM: Dr. Ram Nunna, dean of the Lyles College of Engineering at Fresno State, will discuss engineering opportunities, the promise of linked learning pathways in high school and the need for a new type of K-12 teacher to meet the growing interest in STEM fields.

Fresno State’s ATLAS Program at the Large Hadron Collider of CERN: Dr. Yongsheng Gao, physics professor in the College of Science and Mathematics at Fresno State, will give participants a unique virtual tour of the ATLAS Control Center of CERN in Switzerland, where the Higgs boson, or “God particle,” was discovered. (Details: http://tinyurl.com/CCSC-CERN).

STEM Engagement through Out-of-school Time: Dr. Steve Price, director of the Office of Community Based Learning in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State, will share the benefits of the Teaching Fellows program for both K-12 students and future teachers. He will describe STEM Teams in After School Programs, the Youth Tech Academy and After School University. Kremen partnerships with NASA Ames will also be discussed.

Early arriving participants will see demonstrations from 3:30-4 p.m. by members of Fresno State’s Physics Outreach team that are presented at K-14 schools, hospitals and television stations every semester to promote excitement and interest in science.

For more information, contact Bohlin at carolb@csufresno.edu or 559.278.0237.