Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Tech Citizenship

IBM celebrates 100-year anniversary with volunteering

IBM celebrates 100th birthday by volunteering
Last month IBM Corp. held its Centennial Celebration of Service, a worldwide event designed to allow employees, retirees, clients and business partners to donate their time and expertise during the company’s recognition of its 100th year. On that day, 300,000 IBM employees around the world — close to three quarters of its global workforce — volunteered in more than 5,000 projects in 120 countries, meeting civic and societal challenges serving millions in need. In Massachusetts, thousands of employees volunteered their time at Cradles to Crayons, UN Hack Day, the Girl Scout Camp in Waltham, Brigham Hill Community Farm, and other locations throughout the state. Fifty IBM employees spent the day at Boston Latin Academy, where they hosted workplace readiness workshops and showcased Watson to the 7th through 12th graders to create excitement about careers in engineering, and the possible impact of computers such as Watson on society. Another 50 IBM volunteers joined Gov. Deval Patrick at Harvard University where more than 150 nonprofits benefitted from mentoring and tutorials on using social media. 

SIM links students with IT pros on the links
The Boston Society for Information Management (SIM) and the New England Chapter of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) partnered with TechBoston Academy to hold the first Golf ‘IT’ event at McGolf in Dedham. The event paired IT professionals from leading companies in the Boston area, who served as mentors with tech‐focused high school students in an informal setting to learn about career choices and golf basics. According to Mary Skipper, headmaster of TechBoston Academy, learning golf from IT pros gave the students a chance to meet with “professionals who are daily using the skills we teach in classes.” For more than 30 years Boston SIM has been the meeting place for IT executives, IT consultants, academicians, and senior business executives who play key roles in the use of IT in their organizations. The New England Chapter of HIMSS is the New England area organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of health-care information technology (IT) and management systems. TechBoston Academy is a 6‐12 pilot school in the Boston Public Schools, and was founded in 2002 with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

UMass Lowell raises more than $670K for scholarships
The University of Massachusetts Lowell raised more than $670,000 for student scholarships through its Commencement Eve Celebration in May — surpassing last year’s record by 30 percent. The fourth annual gala provided an opportunity for the community to hear from the honorary degree recipients, Distinguished Alumni Award winner and commencement speaker, as well as recognize outstanding academic achievement and service by UMass Lowell students. Robert and Donna Manning — both UMass Lowell alumni who grew up in Methuen — announced that they are making a multimillion-dollar commitment that will result in more than $5 million toward constructing a new College of Management building and the newly named Robert Manning School of Business. Robert Manning is the chairman and CEO of Boston-based MFS Investment Management, which oversees more than $240 billion in assets. Donna Manning holds nursing and master’s of business administration degrees from UMass Lowell and has been an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center for 27 years. Both received honorary degrees at the commencement ceremony.
 
Biogen gives $150K to Cambridge STEM programs
The Biogen Idec Foundation awarded $150,000 in grants to two Cambridge-based science education programs that will allow nearly 200 students to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education programs. The foundation’s Transformational Grants in Science Education program was created to support organizations that are strengthening efforts to develop effective science teachers and to encourage youth to pursue science careers. East End House in Cambridge received $100,000 to expand its GENASAS (Generating and Evaluating New Adventures in Science After School) program, which teaches young people to think, question, hypothesize, test and observe like scientists. The grant will help to nearly double the size of the middle-school program and begin to develop high school and career readiness programs. Science Club for Girls in Cambridge received $50,000 to pilot the “From A to Zebrafish” program, in which approximately 70 middle and high school girls will learn about zebrafish as a tool to understand biology and human disease. During the two-year program, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School students will learn from area women scientists conducting zebrafish research. The Biogen Idec Foundation is the charitable arm of Biogen Idec Inc.