35 / 66
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,
A
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