2015 Foundation Annual Report

Annual Report 2015

My daughter cannot stop talking about the ASM Materials Camp! What an incredible experience! She

learned an absolute ton, gained some neat exposure and knowledge about materials engineering, and

really enjoyed bonding with fellow prospective engineers. A huge thank you for organizing and running

such an amazing program.

—

LAWRENCE SPINETTA (PARENT OF EISENMAN CAMP ATTENDEE)

Dear Champions of

the ASM Materials

Education Foundation,

s my two-year term comes

to a close as chairman of

the ASM Materials Education

Foundation, I wanted to thank you

for the opportunity to serve the

Foundation and the Society. These

last two years have

been an exciting

time and one that I

think has effected

important chang-

es in both our

board and our

mission. It was a

great privilege to

be part of it and

to serve with

such wonderful people on the board,

executive team, staff, and at ASM

International.

So what is new? Our board has

diversified. We have younger mem-

bers, more females, and colleagues

with backgrounds beyond materials

and who bring new perspectives to

our mission of exciting young people

about STEM careers. Even so, we

have more work to do, particularly

with regard to racial diversity.

Our programs have also

become more diverse, consistent

with our updated strategic plan. Our

mission has grown from scholarships

and camps to a much broader

focus—all aimed at

exciting young people

about science, engi-

neering, and materi-

als. Your Foundation

has incubated four

new business units

that will be import-

ant to increasing our im-

pact on the ASM and STEM

communities. One of these is

an afterschool science program for

middle school students that is run in

cooperation with area museums—

with a goal of exciting this age group

about STEM and materials before

they enter high school. For older

students, our second business unit

is a community college program de-

signed to bring skilled technologists

into the workforce. We have provid-

ed an initial round of scholarships to

these deserving students. Another

new initiative involves distance

learning for teachers. Along with

Temple University, we have invest-

ed in a website aimed at teaching

science in an exciting and innovative

way. This program expands our

reach to schools everywhere, reach-

ing beyond those served by our 40+

teacher camps. The curriculum cov-

ers not only coursework for pre-col-

lege common core standards, but

also next-generation science

standards. Finally, we

are beginning to pursue

how to excite younger

students at an earlier age,

namely fourth grade and

younger when the desire for

STEM education is more for-

mative to their career choices.

We are excited by the potential

of these new initiatives and realize

that we may fail at some while suc-

ceeding at others. In any event, we

are pursuing constructive change to

enhance the scope of our goals and

impact, so we can meet our mission

more fully and at a lower cost.

We are sincerely grateful to all

who have helped make this possible,

particularly our ASM membership,

ASM board, Foundation board, and

executive leadership—and our won-

derful donors that come from both

inside and outside the materials

community. It has been a pleasure

working with you.

—Dr. David B. Spencer