Chamber features Urban Alliance, with the VT NCR and Thinkabit

Urban Alliance at the Urban Institute - Yemina and Jim

Virginia Tech participated in a panel discussion on Thursday, December 7 at the Urban Institute featuring the important work of Urban Alliance.  The event was called, "Disruption Proof: Young People, Tech, and the Future of Work" and featured Thinkabit Lab Director Jim Egenrieder and Yemina Riquelme, former Virginia Tech intern from Washington-Lee High School.  The panel discussion begins at 15:10.

from the Catholic Herald

Fourth-graders learn hands-on technology at Virginia Tech

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

12/07/16

Students from St. Theresa School in Ashburn learn about the different components to make robotics Nov. 30 at the Thinkabit Lab on the campus of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. Elizabeth A. Elliott | Catholic Herald

If you know what arduinos, servos and breadboards are, you are as smart as the fourth-graders at St. Theresa in Ashburn. Twenty-nine students spent the day Nov. 30 at the Thinkabit Lab on the campus of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church.

The lab, led by Tech’s Department of engineering education and school of education, is based on coursework by Qualcomm, the maker of semiconductors in San Diego. Qualcomm opened the first lab two years ago in San Francisco and it has helped more than 8,000 students and educators to bridge the gap between what is taught in schools and the STEM skills required in the workplace. The Tech lab opened in September.

“Virginia Tech was actively looking for outreach programs they could participate in and they found the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab in San Diego,” said Barry Potter, lab manager at Tech. “There are 10 school districts in the area and we target those under-recognized populations like minorities and females in middle and elementary schools.”

First, the students were introduced to possible career choices that utilize STEM skills. They were asked to