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Renegereon supports a number of STEM education programs; (below) Girls Inc. of Westchester runs programs to empower budding female scientists.
employees. Since then, Girls4Tech in a Day has also expanded into schools in Port Chester. “[We’re] hopefully inspiring girls to become more pas- sionate about STEM,” Warner says.
Another locally headquartered organization giving a boost to promising STEM talent is Acorda Therapeutics. Based in Ardsley, the biotech company develops therapies for individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. Acorda has also developed the Acorda Scientific Excellence Award, in collaboration with WGCH radio personality Lisa Wexler. The award is doled out weekly to high-school students in Westchester and neighboring regions who are carrying out independent STEM research. Winners are rewarded with a plaque, bragging rights, and on-air recognition at WGCH.
“We continue to be impressed with the level of scientific research being done by high-school students in our area,” says Tierney Saccavino, executive vice president of corpo- rate communications at Acorda. “By encouraging and supporting the next generation of scientists, Acorda Therapeutics can play a role in help- ing to create the future researchers who go on to discover the next gen- eration of medicines.”
A little further up the Hudson lies Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, a linchpin in Westchester’s STEM landscape and the largest biotechnology company in New York State. A peek at their career website gives a sense of who they’re hiring: “Scientific Data Architect,” “Flow Cytometry Operator,” “Oncology/ Angiogenesis Intern.”
When it comes to investing in STEM locally, Regeneron has a range of approaches, says Hala Mirza, the company’s vice president of corpo- rate communications. “We want to make sure people who show scientific promise at various points in their ca- reers...[have] the support they need.”
In doing so, Regeneron hopes to cement Westchester as a scientific hub and create a pool of local STEM talent. “The region really has a lot of interest in positioning the Hudson Valley as a hotbed of science and technology,” Mirza says.
Regeneron is the presenting spon- sor for the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF), an annual event that engages hun-
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dreds of students across the region. Participants from Yorktown, Sleepy Hollow, Pelham, and beyond explore topics that range from breast cancer to wind turbines.
Regeneron also offers training for adults, particularly local teachers, says Potoula Gjidija, Regeneron’s senior manager for community relations. The biotech company has developed a fruitful relationship with the STEM Leadership Center, a Westchester nonprofit that provides professional development for local science educa- tors. The two collaborate on the STEM Teaching Fellowship program, now in its second year. The fellowship initia- tive began when Executive Director Lawrence Perretto—a sixth-grade sci- ence teacher at Hommocks Middle School in Mamaroneck—reached out to Regeneron with a novel idea.
“Most science teachers do not have any professional scientific back- ground at all,” Perretto says, discuss- ing the program’s genesis. “There is a profound disconnect between what happens in the science classroom and what professional science actually looks like.” That disconnect, he adds, “is failing to encourage young people to pursue science and engineering in college and in careers.”
The fellowship seeks to provide a solution. It’s an ambitious program: Regeneron furnishes funding for 10 local science educators to receive hands-on training (and a $2,500 stipend) over the course of 16 months. Participants complete graduate coursework in STEM pedagogy, receive a graduate certificate from the Teachers College of Columbia University and spend two weeks working side-by-side with Regeneron professionals in the laboratory. “We think it’s an
“There is a profound disconnect between what happens in the science classroom and what professional science actually looks like.”
—Lawrence Perretto, executive director, STEM LeadershipCenter
innovative way to show teachers real laboratory skills and give them the opportunity to transfer that into their teaching experience,” Gjidija says.
The STEM Leadership Center also seeks to make science education more engaging for Westchester students. The Center’s staff—“seven full-time teachers, all working in part-time roles,” Perretto says—run informal after-school science programs for youngsters. Students design and test wooden planes, to learn about aero- dynamics; build model roller coast- ers, to unpack kinetic and potential energy; and launch rockets, to grasp the nuts and bolts of engineering.
“It’s all project-based, experiential and discovery learning,” Perretto says. While the Center’s classes can be fun and explosive, there’s an end- game, as well: preparing Westchester’s youngsters for a changing workforce
here at home. •
Freelance writer Kevin Zawacki is a frequent914INC.contributor.
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