| 8:00am - 9:45am |
Opening General Session
Ballrooms A & B
Jan Bray, Executive Director, Association for Career and Technical Education
Bray brings a national perspective on education policy, reform and the critical role career and techinical education plays in advancing not only student achievement, but also U.S. competitiveness.
Ray Almgren, National Instruments
Almgren joins Education Open Source to share a unique perspective on how industry partnerships with secondary and postsecondary institutions generate excitement about pursuing science and engineering careers through efforts such as The Infinity Project and Project Lead the Way as well as student competitions including FIRST Robotics, FIRST LEGO League and BEST Robotics. He will discuss a variety of education outcomes that benefit employers, including education and skill attainment at various levels including two-year and four-year degrees with multiple entry and exit points. Almgren will also share a vision for the Texas STEM initiative, to which NI donated $1 million.
Ray leads technical marketing operations for National Instruments along with the company’s worldwide academic relations program. Throughout his career at NI, Almgren has devoted significant effort to enhance science and engineering education and inspiring students to pursue technical careers. He pioneered many of the company’s academic and university programs, including using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® and programming software based on NI LabVIEW to unite more than 200 NI engineers with local educators to integrate robotics, control and design into K-12 curriculum. |
| 4:30pm - 6:00pm |
Conference Reception
Atrium
All attendees are invited to come and unwind after a full day. Enjoy the camaraderie and company of friends, colleagues, presenters and sponsors. The reception features appetizers, cash bar and over $1,000 in door prize drawings! |
