Mark Your Calendars: NASSMC 2007 Annual Coalition Directors' Meeting, April 12-13

Registration information for the April 12-13 NASSMC Annual Coalition Directors' Meeting will soon be posted on the NASSMC website. This year's theme is Sharing What Works: Success & Opportunity, and the agenda includes speakers, a panel discussion, and an extended Directors' Forum focusing on coalitions' major activities and successes.

In Washington, interest in working with the coalitions has never been higher. Your efforts have raised both the visibility and credibility of state-based STEM coalitions. It is time to look at where we have been and what has worked (and what hasn’t). State coalitions have significant accomplishments to showcase. There has been progress and improvement in STEM education. Perhaps the current national climate may be in part an indication of that progress.

The 2007 Annual Coalition Directors' Meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn - Arlington Courthouse Plaza, just blocks from the NASSMC offices and minutes from downtown DC. A limited number of rooms have been reserved at the hotel at the conference rate of $188.00 per night plus tax. These rates are only available through March 21, 2007. For reservations made after March 21, regular room rates will be charged.

Please complete the entire conference form and submit with payment to NASSMC. A complete registration entitles you to admission to the NASSMC 2007 Annual Coalition Directors' Meeting. The final registration deadline is April 1, 2007.

For registration and accommodations information, as well as the draft conference agenda, please visit (and bookmark!) the 2007 Annual Coalitions Directors' Meeting webpage.

If you have special needs or have any questions, please notify NASSMC at registration@nassmc.org.

We look forward to seeing you in April!

Getting to Know NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency whose realm extends from the surface of the Sun to the bottom of the sea, whose concern for life in the sea extends from microscopic creatures to the great whales, and whose reach in time extends from thousands of years in the past to decades in the future with climate studies and observations. On any given day, NOAA ships, buoys, observatories, aircraft, and satellites will observe environmental conditions from Arctic to Antarctic. They might observe features as diverse as fish stocks, ozone content of the atmosphere, sun spots, tornadoes, or coastlines. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts our seas and skies, guides our use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to improve our understanding and stewardship of the environment which sustains us all.

NOAA facilities, such as National Weather Service Forecast Offices, National Marine Sanctuaries and scientific laboratories, are located in nearly every state. To find NOAA in your state, click here.

The Standards to Provide Educational Achievement for Kids Act (SPEAK) Act

The SPEAK Act proposes nationwide, voluntary science and mathematics content standards. States that adopt these standards would be eligible to receive federal funds for implementation and to enhance data systems related to No Child Left Behind goals. The standards would be developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), with public input.

Specifically, the Act proposes national content standards in science and mathematics in order to:

• ensure that all American students are given the same opportunity to learn to a high standard no matter where they reside.
• allow for meaningful comparisons of student academic achievement across states.
• ensure American students are academically qualified to enter college, or training for the civilian or military workforce.
• ensure that students are better prepared for the global marketplace and, consequently, maintain America's competitive edge.

The SPEAK Act authors are Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Representative Vernon Ehlers (R-MI). Senator Dodd's Prepared Remarks at the Launch of the SPEAK Act are available here, and both a summary of the act and the full bill text are available from The New America Foundation here.

State of the Union Address Resources

The 2007 State of the Union Policy Initiatives book including all of the State of the Union fact sheets is now available on the White House website.

Regarding education, the President stated the following:

"Spreading opportunity and hope in America also requires public schools that give children the knowledge and character they need in life. Five years ago, we rose above partisan differences to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, preserving local control, raising standards, and holding those schools accountable for results. And because we acted, students are performing better in reading and math, and minority students are closing the achievement gap.

Now the task is to build on the success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities, and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools, and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better. We must increase funds for students who struggle — and make sure these children get the special help they need. And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future and our country is more competitive by strengthening math and science skills. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children — and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law.

An overview fact sheet and policy initiatives is also available.

NASSMC Executive Director Jim McMurtray attended the White House Briefing on Education with Deputy Secretary Ray Simon and Senior Education officials on Friday, January 26th.

NSF's Math and Science Partnerships Demonstrate Continued Increases in Student Proficiency

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), an analysis of 123 schools participating in the NSF Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program shows improvements in student proficiency in mathematics and science at the elementary, middle- and high-school levels over a 3-year period.

The most recent data, for 2004-2005, show continued increases since the MSP program was established in 2002. Students showed the most significant improvements in mathematics proficiency, with a 13.7 percent increase for elementary, 6.2 percent increase for middle-school, and 17.1 percent increase for high-school students. Science proficiency at each level showed marked gains as well, with a 5.3 percent increase for elementary, 4.5 percent increase for middle-school, and 1.4 percent increase for high-school students.

The most dramatic increases were documented by elementary grade students in mathematics, where 7.2 percent more students achieved or exceeded proficiency from 2002-2003 to 2003-2004, followed by an increase of 6.5 percent from 2003-2004 to 2004-2005.

More information is available here, and the NSF MSP program webpage is here.

Barbarian Science

NASSMC has received a limited quantity of Executive Director Jim McMurtray 1999 book, Barbarian Science. These books will be sold with 100% of the proceeds going to NASSMC's general fund. The $20 cost includes shipping. Published by Town Square Books (the Jackson State University Press), Barbarian Science was originally written for marketing to universities offering courses in the literature of science through the English Departments. It later reached a secondary audience in colleges of education.

This short book (100 pages) is about science literacy in America and the need to make science accessible to the general population. The current national attention toward making science available to a larger population has made the book more timely now than when it was written. Barbarian Science has been used in universities across the country and is still sold in college book stores here and there.

To order Barbarian Science, please send your check, payable to NASSMC, at $20 per copy, to Deborah Jones, National Alliance of State Science and Mathematics Coalitions, 1840 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22201-3000.

Of Interest...

CRASH CREATION? Collisions of asteroids, as in this artist's depiction, might have created the warm dust in the belt around the nearby star Zeta Leporis. Image Credit: J. Lomberg/Gemini Observatory

+ Rocky finding: Evidence of extrasolar asteroid belt: Astronomers report that they've obtained the best evidence yet for an asteroid belt beyond the solar system. Such a belt would suggest that the star Zeta Leporis, which lies just 70 light-years away, possesses not only asteroids but rocky planets like Earth. The new measurements pinpoint the location of a disk of warm dust that surrounds Zeta Leporis. The dust lies about the same distance from the star as the solar system's asteroid belt lies from the sun, Margaret M. Moerchen and Charles M. Telesco of the University of Florida in Gainesville and their colleagues report in an upcoming Astrophysical Journal Letters.

+ New source of stem cells discovered: Scientists have reported the discovery of a new source of human stem cells that have the capability to develop into many different types of cells, including muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells.These stem cells, found in amniotic fluid, could one day lead to a readily available supply of stem cells that don't come with the ethical problems surrounding embryonic stem cells. "These cells are easier to get, and from acceptable medical procedures [for example, amniocentesis] that are done on a routine basis," said study senior author Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

+ NASA spacecraft read layered clues to changes on Mars: Layers on Mars are yielding history lessons revealed by instruments flying overhead and rolling across the surface. Some of the first radar and imaging results from NASA's newest Mars spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, show details in layers of ice-rich deposits near the poles. Observed variations in the layers' thickness and composition will yield information about recent climate cycles on the red planet.

+ Antarctic snow reveals volcanic links to climate: Remnants of volcanic smoke locked up in Antarctic ice could help geologists establish firmer links between ancient eruptions and climate changes. Sulphur isotopes in the ice could show whether eruptions of dust and ash up to a million years ago were large enough to reach the upper atmosphere, and so block sunlight.

Squid Power: Numerical simulations and the computational mesh around RAV. Image Credit: CU-Boulder

+ Squid power: Propulsion systems modeled on nature: Squid, jellyfish and other cephalopods are thought to be pretty efficient at getting around. So scientists are copying their natural designs in new "vortex generators" that might make underwater vehicles more versatile. The research could also lead to nifty self-propelled tiny capsules with jet thrusters that could be coming soon to a digestive tract near you.

+ Vast halo extends galaxy's size: The discovery suggests the nearby spiral galaxy, also known as M31, is as much as five times bigger than astronomers had previously thought. In fact, Andromeda's "suburbs" are so vast that they nearly overlap with those of our own Milky Way galaxy. University of California researchers presented their findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) taking place in Seattle, US. Andromeda is a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way. About 2.5 million light-years away from Earth, it is the largest galaxy in the "local group", which also includes the Milky Way and about 30 smaller galaxies.

+ Wildfires linked to warming ocean: As warming ocean temperatures have been linked to a spike in wildfires in the past, scientists now predict the western United States could experience more of such fires in the coming decades. "This trend of warmer sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic appears to be correlated with dry spells we have seen in the West since the late 1990s," said study team member Thomas Veblen of the University of Colorado, Boulder. "If the trend continues for the next 60 years or so as it has in the past, the degree of fire occurrence in the West could be unprecedented compared to anything in recent memory."

The 6-light-year-wide Crab Nebula was created by a star that blew up nearly 1000 years ago, leaving behind an unusual neutron star that may boast four magnetic poles. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/J Hester/A Loll/ASU

+ Neutron star may sport four magnetic poles: The neutron star inside the Crab Nebula may have four magnetic poles, rather than the usual two – unlike any other astronomical object known. The poles may have somehow been frozen into the neutron star when it was formed in a supernova explosion.

+ Killing the life we seek: Researchers hypothesize that Mars is home to microbe-like organisms that use a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide as their internal fluid. Such life forms could explain the results of the Viking biology experiments — before those experiments inadvertently killed the Martians.

+ Bad to the Bone: Acid stoppers appear to have a downside: Popular heartburn pills taken to block the production of stomach acid seem to increase the risk of hip fractures in older people, according to an analysis of medical records. Proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), available by prescription or over the counter, include drugs such as Prilosec and Nexium. They are more potent than other medications such as Zantac or Pepcid that suppress acid production through a different biological mechanism. Earlier studies had hinted at an increased risk of broken bones among PPI users. To explore that possibility, researchers tapped into a British database of medical records and identified 13,556 people age 50 or older who had suffered a broken hip. The scientists also scanned the records of roughly 135,000 people in that age group who hadn't had such an injury. The researchers noted who had used PPIs, Zantac-type heartburn drugs, or neither type of medication.

+ Big bird-brains boost beneficial behaviours: Bigger brained birds have a better chance of survival, according to a study that looked at the mortality rates of 200 bird species around the world. Daniel Sol at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain and colleagues looked for a correlation between two factors. The first factor was the birds' mortality – a measure of how likely individuals are to survive from one year to the next using data from tagged birds – and their brain-to-body-weight ratio.

+ You still can't drink the water, but now you can touch it: Engineers have developed a system that uses a simple water purification technique that can eliminate 100 percent of the microbes in New Orleans water samples left from Hurricane Katrina. The technique makes use of specialized resins, copper and hydrogen peroxide to purify tainted water. The system — safer, cheaper and simpler to use than many other methods — breaks down a range of toxic chemicals. While the method cleans the water, it doesn't yet make the water drinkable. However, the method may eventually prove critical for limiting the spread of disease at disaster sites around the world.

Ruapehu is one of the world's most active volcanoes. The deep crater lies between its peaks and fills with a lake between big eruptions

+ Volcanic crater lake primed to spill: The crater lake of New Zealand’s Mount Ruapehu is brimming and could burst at any time, releasing at least one million cubic metres of water and sending a mudflow – or lahar – gushing down the volcano. The last Mt Ruapehu lahar, in 1953, was on a similar scale. It swept away a railway bridge, killing 151 people travelling across it. Some local newspapers are raising the prospect of another potential disaster – but scientists say they are scare-mongering.

+ Scientists solve 400-year-old murder: Italian scientists believe they have uncovered a 400-year-old murder. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife Bianca Cappello did not die of malaria but were poisoned — probably by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the title. Now, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence report evidence of arsenic poisoning in a new study published in the British Medical Journal.