On October 8th 2009, friends, collaborators and associates from around the world celebrated the work of the Kaput Center by realizing the profound impact it has had on defining what is STEM education through its research and innovation.
Leaders from several national and international institutions, local business leaders, members of the local congressional delegation, MA state house representatives and members of faculty, staff and administration from the UMass system convened at the UMass Dartmouth’s Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River, MA.
Partnership agreements in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) were signed by Chancellor Jean MacCormack, Professor Stephen Hegedus (Director of the Kaput Center), and the leaders of 4 international universities. These MOUs aim to replicate and extend the work of the Kaput Center in various countries at varying degrees of scale and impact. These will be sustained by graduate student and faculty exchanges. More details.
Since this event we have continued to work on answering the important question “What is STEM Education?” examining related issues on economic & public policy, creativity and innovation.
As the work of the Center continues to expand around the world we are seeking collaboration through our public wiki to draw up a white paper. We hope to add details of local work both in terms of academic programs as well as results from present research. But we are also reaching out to a broader community of like-minded people in addressing this question.