STEMfest 2015 - Saskatoon, Canada

Although 2015 has only just started, planning ahead is always a good thing.

Especially when you are planning a festival to celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, 

and...

you're expecting 1200 delegates from 55 different countries, including 13 international conference within the same week

(14th International Conference on Clean Energy 2015

9th Global Conference on Power Control and Optimisation

3rd Safety Conference: World Conference on Safety in Science, Industry and Education

8th International Conference on Crop Science

1st STEMfest Space and Astronomy Forum

to name a few)

and...

you're planning 28 different events to happen in the same venue

(Politicians and Policy Forum

International GameJam

Career Day

International Union of Forest Research

Ride2Learn World By Cycle Adventure

to name a few)

So what are you waiting for?

Abstract submission is now open

http://stemstates.org/stemfest-2015/submit-a-paper-issn-2203-241x.html

More updates will follow....

(and just in case you are wondering how I fit into all this, your can bet that I have Science Outreach and Kids in mind... Stay tuned)

The 23rd IUPAC International Conference on Chemical Education

A week ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 23rd IUPAC International Conference on Chemical Education. And it was indeed a treat.

I got to wear 3 hats for one week!
I gave a talk about my teaching experience as a Ph.D. student at UofT, being a lab demonstrator.
I gave 2 talks about Pueblo Science. One, sharing the work we do in Toronto and the GTA. The second, about the work we do in the Philippines.
And my third hat was that of the official 'twitter' for the conference.

I was happy with the feedback I got for my talks, which is always a great feeling. But the thing that was the real treat for me was the people I met. So many people who are concerned about education. How to make it better. How to engage students.

I'd like to mention 2 very special individuals, whom I had the pleasure of talking with a couple of times, and whom have shared with me so many great experiences and ideas for science activities (mostly chemistry, which is only natural for a chemical education conference).

The first is Myra Hauben .
 She is a professor of chemistry who has been going to Cambodia for over a decade. In her travels, she has brought science experimentation to chemistry teachers in Cambodia. Places where they could only talk about experiments, but not perform them. This was due to lack of training, lack of knowledge, lack of equipment, lack of resources. (Her stories of Cambodia echo our work in the Philippines, only the situation in Cambodia is far worse than in the Philippines).

The second is Ann Nalley.
Ann is also a professor of chemistry. She was also the president of the American Chemical Society.
She shared lots and lots of her stories about her chemistry demonstrations as well as the various public events she has held to engage people with chemistry. Her upbeat spirit and amazing ideas were truly inspirational to me.

I could go on an on about the conference, but would rather not. Why read so many words when pictures do a better job. Here's a link to see all the posted pictures from the week long conference.

And I'll finish with one picture from the opening ceremony with Bassam Shakhashiri (another great demonstrator: