alliantgroup Hosts STEM Summit

HOUSTON, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- alliantgroup hosted its first ever summit on STEM education. The event, STEM Summit: Closing the Gap from Classroom to Industry, brought together educators, community members, policymakers and business leaders who are passionate about STEM to discuss strategies on how to close the STEM gap in America.

Hosted by alliantgroup CEO, Dhaval Jadav, the summit started with a presentation of the Elementary Science Teach Award ceremony, where both the 2020 Winner, Kirk Coppes of Ashford Elementary and 2021 Winner Whitnee Boston of Gregory Lincoln Education Center, were honored.

This is the third year in a row that alliantgroup has partnered with the Houston Independent School District to sponsor the award which honors local teachers who are increasing student achievement and engagement through innovative lesson plans that emphasize the importance and intrigue of science.

This award is just one of the many educational initiatives that alliantgroup is involved in as part of its continuing efforts to promote the importance of STEM education.

"These incredible science teachers are absolutely vital in ensuring that America is at the center of the next innovation revolution! It has totally blown me away to see what these educators are doing to stoke the flames of curiosity in their students. It's so inspiring to see and we will continue to do as much as we can to support teachers like these," said Dhaval Jadav, CEO of alliantgroup.

The roundtable discussion centered on what the United States needs to do to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to STEM. Panelists included:

• William T. Harris – CEO of Space Center Houston
• Juliet Breeze, M.D. – CEO of Next Level Urgent Care
• Rick White - alliantgroup Strategic Advisory Board Member, Former U.S Congressman and CEO of Technet
• Deirdre Ricketts - alliantgroup Director of STEAM Education, 2019 Winner of HISD - Elementary Science Teacher Award, lead science teacher and facilitator of the STEAM Lab at Stevens Elementary School
• Calvin Mackie, Ph.D. - President and CEO of STEM NOLA
• Chuck Wilson – Executive Director of National Systems Contractors Association (NSCA)

"The problem that is facing us isn't new, we're in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution… we had a challenge of switching an agricultural society to an industrial society… Now, we are in a fourth industrial revolution, which includes the internet of things, censors, artificial intelligence, robotics… The only difference in those other three industrial revolutions was that we always trained people to do the work and we had enough people, primarily white males. The challenge is now we need everybody and now we have to talk about STEM for all… and we need to make sure that the resources the congressman talks about are applied equally to communities that otherwise have never had access," said Dr. Mackie.

Former Congressman Rick White highlighted cultural issues with the STEM gap saying, "So encouraging to hear about these great stories, approaches, these great teachers we have and programs like Calvin has but somehow we're not getting these people into these jobs. I think we need to recognize there's something about our culture that could help us do this. A kid that picks up a football may want to be a football player but a kid that touches a computer does not necessarily want to be a STEM guy. We need to show that being a STEM person is cool!"

alliantgroup is a management and tax consulting company with a mission to strengthen American businesses through reinvestment in innovation and job growth. We educate businesses, the industry groups that serve them and the accounting firms that advise them on federal and state credits and incentives that are legislated by our government to keep the U.S. competitive in the global landscape. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 businesses claim more than $10 billion in credits and incentives. alliantgroup is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices located in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Irvine, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.; and Bristol and London in the U.K.

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SOURCE alliantgroup