Ohio STEM Learning Network Receives Investment to Launch Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Initiative

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help support statewide collaboration, providing more than 100,000 Ohio students with a 21st century education



Contact:


Shaun Yoder
Ohio STEM Learning Network
Phone: 614.228.6084

Katy Delaney
Battelle Memorial Institute
Phone: 614.424.7686

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Phone: 206.709.3400
Email: media@gatesfoundation.org




COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An unprecedented public-private partnership designed to train and connect more than 100,000 students to jobs in Ohio's 21st century economy today announced a $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The investment—part of a $50 million commitment by state and private partners—will support the launch of the Ohio Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Learning Network, to be managed by Battelle, the world's largest non-profit independent research and development organization. The network will begin with five regional STEM-based schools targeting low income and minority students. Ohio lawmakers also have targeted $100 million for STEM college scholarships.

Governor Ted Strickland, Ohio Senate President Bill Harris and Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted gathered at Metro High School in Columbus with Battelle CEO Carl Kohrt, students, educators, public officials as well as business and community leaders to celebrate the unique partnerships that have been formed to nurture and grow Ohio's talent to compete and succeed in college and the workplace. The Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN), to be led by Rich Rosen, Battelle's Vice President for Education and Philanthropy, will work with Ohio's public schools to ensure that all students meet the STEM literacy challenge and are prepared to fill the high-quality jobs that will transform Ohio's economy from an industrial economy to a "solutions" economy.

"Today's businesses will succeed based on how well we solve problems like climate change, energy independence, high health care costs, and others. STEM literacy, with its emphasis on real-world problem-solving, gives students the intellectual as well as the technical foundation they need to make sense of the world around them and move ahead in this environment," Kohrt said. "Improving education is one of Battelle's founding purposes and operational signatures. As a business based on scientific discovery and application, we have a keen interest in vigorously promoting STEM education. This is what Ohio owes its children and it's what we must do to meet the Governor's commitment to open the doors of our colleges and adult career centers to an additional 230,000 Ohioans over the next decade."

The OSLN, in cooperation with the Ohio Partnership for Continued Learning, seeks to: double the number of college graduates in Ohio by 2015 with degrees in the STEM disciplines, with a special emphasis on increasing the number of low income and minority graduates; dramatically increase the number of individuals who choose a career in STEM fields to support Ohio's economic growth and ensure the state's position as a leader in innovation, research, and emerging technology; and design and implement a statewide infrastructure that ensures all secondary STEM school creation is aligned with Ohio's education reform, economic development, workforce, and two- and four-year higher education endeavors.

Governor Strickland, President Harris and Speaker Husted made the following joint statement: "We can all agree that creating jobs and building our economy are essential and vital to our progress as a state. To do so, we must prepare our students with the skills and tools needed to compete in the ever-changing global marketplace—an environment where talents in the STEM disciplines will drive the economy and dictate success. With Ohio's focus on STEM education we are laying the groundwork for a highly competitive 21st century "solutions" revolution. We look forward to working with Battelle, the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy and the Ohio STEM Learning Network partners across the state on this bold initiative that will benefit Ohioans for years to come."

AEP Chief Executive and Ohio Business Roundtable Chairman Michael Morris, one of many Ohio business leaders who have supported the development of OSLN and the state’s STEM learning initiatives, remarked, "Ohio's greatest challenge is to cultivate and nurture the next generation of knowledge workers to fuel our innovation economy. The Roundtable is proud to join hands with Carl Kohrt and Battelle, our business, philanthropic and education partners, and Ohio's elected leaders to ensure that STEM learning 'sticks'—that it thrives and becomes part of Ohio's permanent education landscape."

Metro High School in Columbus, a STEM school and the site of today's announcement, opened its doors in the fall of 2006. According to Ronny Oppong, a sophomore at Metro, every day of school is a 'WOW' moment for him. "My curriculum is challenging with lots of advanced math and science. I'm discovering and inventing, but I’m also given opportunities to apply new ideas to problems in the real world," Oppong said. "Learning is 'hands-on' and personal. And it's not just math and science—there's a lot of history, writing and literature, as well as music and the arts. If it were my decision, STEM would be part of every school."

OSLN's goal is to support schools' efforts to inspire, train and connect more than 100,000 Ohio students over the next 10 years to the high-quality jobs that will define the state's success in the global economy. "Our shared mission is to graduate all students ready for college, career and life," said Steve Seleznow, Program Director of Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "We are excited about the network of STEM schools that Ohio is creating and applaud the statewide commitment to link a challenging curriculum to the future vitality and prosperity of the state's regional economies."

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The Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) is a privately-supported, non-profit initiative designed to advance high-quality STEM education for all students in Ohio. Managed by Battelle, and a team of affiliated entities, the OSLN will provide critical funding and technical assistance for the regional development of STEM-education initiatives that have a broad base of committed local partners and are aligned to the State of Ohio's broader STEM goals and programs. Focused on innovative teaching and learning, its overarching goal is to create a growing network of connected and thriving STEM schools and programs. The result: student success in the 21st century "solutions" economy. Battelle's Rich Rosen, Vice President for Education and Philanthropy, will lead the OSLN.

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Battelle is the world's largest non-profit independent research and development organization, providing innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $4 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 20,400 employees in more than 120 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Battelle also is one of the nation's leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science and math education.

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The Ohio Business Roundtable is a partnership of the chief executives of the state's major businesses who represent all sectors of the economy and are committed to working with public leaders to build a better Ohio. Its 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy, is coordinating the public policy, communications and engagement activities of the OSLN.

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Statement on U.S. Effort to Fight Neglected Tropical Diseases

SEATTLE -- Today, President George W. Bush proposed expanding U.S. efforts to fight neglected tropical diseases in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In response, Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Health Program, released the following statement:

"We welcome and applaud President Bush's proposal to dramatically increase efforts to combat neglected tropical diseases in the developing world. While these serious diseases are virtually unheard of in rich countries, they are a fact of life for millions of the world's poorest people.

"Many of these diseases—including lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, and river blindness—are preventable or treatable with existing solutions. We can defeat these scourges through increased attention and funding.

"We look forward to working together to improve the lives of those living in developing countries by reducing suffering caused by these diseases."

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

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Windows Server RTM WDK now available on Connect!

Hello WDK Beta Users-

We are pleased to announce the release of the Windows Server 2008 RTM WDK. The WDK build is now available for download on Connect. This WDK beta release to Connect coincides with the recent OS release of Windows Server 2008 RTM. Please take a few moments to install the newest WDK build and test as applicable for your needs. As always, please file bugs found as quickly and as detailed as possible.

In this WDK release, the WDK is delivering the latest updates to build drivers for Server 2008 and earlier platforms since the release of Vista a year ago. This is the supported platform for the development and release of all production drivers for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

A few highlights in this release are:

KMDF 1.7:
o A new wait/wake policy for parent drivers
o New samples
o New Tools

UMDF 1.7:
o Now supports Windows Server 2003 along with Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
o New debugger extensions
o New and updated samples

WDF 1.7:
o WDF 1.7 is native on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1
o WDF 1.7 is completely backward compatible with WDF versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.5

WDTF:
o SDEL has been added to WDTF to make querying simpler and easier

SDV:
o SDV supports KMDF drivers in addition to WDM drivers and parallelization over rules. Now, rules will be verified in parallel.

PFD:
o PFD is enhanced with driver-specific annotations that make it an even more powerful tool.

DSF:
o USB Power Management and now more robust and stable

Docs:
o New look of the WDK documentation for Server 2008/SP1
o new docs for Viridian and Kernel Transaction Manager
o Subset Filtering (allows you to search by technology subset such as Audio)
o Requirements Block information for all new topics
o Kernel Reference technical scrub and TOC restructuring

***Updated Redist.txt:***
Please also see the document download accompaning the WDK build on Connect entitled "WDK-**READ FIRST**-Updated Redist.txt for WDK - Windows Server 2008 RTM ".
An updated Redist.txt has been posted for this release. Please refer to this updated text file instead of the file in the build as directed from the End User License Agreement.


This release is available as a download only. The image posted is a DVD image and the recommended approach is to download and burn a DVD.

Thank you for your continued support!
The WDK Team

ConfigMgr 2007 SP1 and R2 Betas now available on Microsoft Connect!

Dear Configuration Manager Beta participants:

We are pleased to announce that System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack (SP) 1 and R2 Beta releases are now available on Microsoft Connect. To enroll in the program, please go here:
https://connect.microsoft.com/programdetails.aspx?ProgramDetailsID=1829

Please review the release notes carefully for late breaking information regarding the betas. After that, please download the bits and get them in your lab as quickly as possible, test-test-test, and give us feedback.

Regards,
The Configuration Manager 2007 Customer Team