BINGHAMTON, NY – The SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier (SUNY BEST) will host a presentation, titled “Empire State STEM Learning Network – Connect, Collaborate, Compete,” at 10 a.m. Thursday, Mar. 1 in room 1324C of the Continuing Education and Outreach Office in the Library North building on the University campus. This presentation is free and open to the public.

Empire State STEM Learning Network (Empire STEM) Director Margaret Ashida applies her broad corporate executive experience in innovation incubation, global diversity and workforce management, and marketing at IBM to the challenge of systematic education reform by focusing on STEM, the interdisciplinary teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Her goal is to increase the college- and career-readiness of all students.

Focusing on New York state through the creation of Empire STEM, Ashida recently joined the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline at the State University of New York (SUNY) in partnership with Battelle. She also collaborates with colleagues in other states and at the national level. Her community service includes chair of the Board of Directors of LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) and trustee emeritus of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

SUNY BEST is a volunteer group comprised of senior staff members from key economic and educational institutions in the Southern Tier. The group works to forge strong alliances, strengthen industry specific needs and provide information and outreach for business. SUNY BEST also seeks to explore and support the business community workforce needs for traditional and emerging industry clusters such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy, photonics, energy conservation and renewal.

Pre-registration is required through the SUNY BEST website at http://ceo.binghamton.edu/bande/.  For additional information email dhulbert@binghamton.edu. Parking is available at the visitors’ paid lot, across from Bartle Library and in the parking garage behind the Couper Administration building.