CEAT Students Making an Impact at 2018 STEM Day at the Capitol
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Pictured: CEAT students and Dean Paul Tikalsky visited the Oklahoma state Capitol Tuesday where they spoke with legislators including Senate Pro Tem Mike Schulz about the importance of STEM education.
STILLWATER, Okla. – Nine students in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at OSU along with Dean Paul Tikalsky, Jessica Russell from the OSU Regents office and Jaime McAlpine, CEO of McAlpine Energy and alumni mentor to the students, visited the Oklahoma State Capitol Tuesday, April 17 for STEM Day at the Capitol.
According to the State of Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce, the state will need to fill over 24,000 technical positions to maintain the current technical business workload through 2026. Without more funding of STEM programs starting today, the state’s educational system will be unable to maintain, much less grow, a viable workforce to meet the existing demand from high-tech industries. It takes 10 years to develop a STEM grad.
“Oklahoma needs a workforce that is STEM oriented to meet future demands,” said Steve Huckaby, CEO of Meritage Midstream Services. “We will never recover the lost manufacturing and service jobs of the past. But instead of looking back, we need to look to the future and make the education investment now that will allow Oklahoma to thrive for years to come.”
Students were able to meet with Senate Pro Tem Mike Schulz, Lt. Governor Todd Lamb, Speaker of the House Charles McCall and other state legislators to discuss the importance of STEM funding to Oklahoma’s future and their personal stories of how STEM changed their lives.
CEAT students that attended were:
Wade Witcher, freshman in Chemical Engineering (Broken Arrow, OK)
Kevin Bruggemeyer, freshman Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Kansas)
Cameron Taylor, freshman Civil and Environmental Engineering (Grove, OK)
Kyle Linzy, senior in Electrical and Computer Engineering, (Bartlesville, OK)
Jenna Fowler, sophomore Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (Stillwater, OK)
Alie Lory, junior in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Flower Mound, TX)
Brent Hollrah, senior in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Edmond, OK)
Cameron Jump, sophomore in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Edmond, OK)
Molly Crowe, senior in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Tulsa, OK)
RELEASE CONTACT: Kylie Fanning | CEAT Marketing | 405-744-2745 | kyliecf@okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant university that prepares students for success. OSU has more than 35,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 24,000 on its combined Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, with students from all 50 states and around 120 nations. Established in 1890, Oklahoma State has graduated more than 240,000 students who have been serving the state of Oklahoma, the nation and the world.
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Pictured: STEM students visited the Oklahoma state Capitol Tuesday where they spoke with legislators including Lt. Governor Todd Lamb about the importance of STEM education.
Pictured: CEAT students visited the Oklahoma state Capitol Tuesday where they spoke with legislators including Speaker of the House Charles McCall about the importance of STEM education.