Our mission is to use science, technology and engineering to develop persistent curiosity and to show that knowledge is empowering.

GROWTH PLAN

Iridescent seeks to expand the reach and impact of our programs to reach as many needy students as possible.

Los Angeles Growth Plan

New York Growth Plan

Technovation Challenge Growth Plan

LOS ANGELES GROWTH PLAN

For the 2011-2012 academic year we propose to:

  1. Conduct 53 Family Science Courses in the greater Los Angeles area that will reach 3,250 3rd – 7th grade underprivileged students and their families. Courses will be conducted in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 at 53 partner schools served by three partner Universities – USC, LMU and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Each course will consist of four sessions of two hours.
  2. Train 105 professional, retired and student engineers who will develop and implement inquiry-based courses on twenty different topics.
  3. Conduct three Iridescent Engineering Summer Bootcamps in Summer 2012 reaching 180 underserved students.
  4. Train 100 parents through the Parent Leadership Program over the course of three 2-hour sessions to develop and lead Family Science Courses at their schools.

For the 2012-2013 academic year we propose to:

  1. Conduct 63 Family Science Courses in the greater Los Angeles area that will reach 4,090 3rd – 7th grade underprivileged students and their families. Courses will be conducted in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 at 63 partner schools served by three partner Universities – USC, LMU and UCLA. Each course will consist of four sessions of two hours.
  2. Train 120 professional, retired and student engineers who will develop and implement inquiry-based courses on twenty different topics.
  3. Conduct four Iridescent Engineering Summer Bootcamps in Summer 2013 reaching 240 underserved students.
  4. Train 120 parents through the Parent Leadership Program over the course of three 2-hour sessions to develop and lead Family Science Courses at their schools.

NEW YORK GROWTH PLAN

Over the course of 3 years, we will partner with 50 K-8 underserved schools in East and West Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens boroughs in New York City. We will conduct 150 unique hands-on STEM courses, and train 220 engineers. We will serve 3,720 students and 1,600 parents. This allows us to have 79,200 contact hours with students, 29,880 contact hours with parents, and 3,900 contact hours with engineers. We will partner with three universities, The Cooper Union, Columbia University, and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) In addition we will partner with the New York Hall of Science under whose guidance engineers will train 40 high-school Explainers who in turn will engage 3,600 families (~7,200 visitors) in conversations focused on the underwater-themed interactives. The New York Hall of Science will disseminate materials and training on the Engineer-Explainer-Interactives program to five science centers nationwide thereby increasing the project’s reach to 36,000 visitors.

TECHNOVATION CHALLENGE GROWTH PLAN

Over the course of the 3 years, the Technovation Challenge will reach 1,850 students, 375 professional mentors, and 355 TA’s in 6 national regions for 74,000 student contact hours, 15,000 mentor contact hours, and 14,200 TA contact hours, and result in the production of 18 educational apps. We propose to:

  1. Expand the Technovation Challenge throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
  2. Make software development partnerships to professionally redevelop student-conceived mobile apps emerging from Technovation Challenge programs, and effectively market them to ensure market share and impact.
  3. Hold full Technovation Challenge programs in Boston, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago in the 2012-2013 school year.

Problem

Approach