From left to right: Priya Mohabir (NYSCI), Rhonda Binda (New York Venture Council), Meir Barak, DVM, PhD (Associate Professor of Veterinary Anatomy, Department
of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, Long Island University), Yipeng Huang (Postdoc Researcher, Princeton University), Nikhil Shah (Senior Business Analyst / Product
Consultant, Cognizant), Sheila Narayanan (Cognizant), Margaret Honey (CEO, NYSCI), Carol Cohen (Cognizant U.S. Foundation Board member), Kristen Titus (Executive
Director, Cognizant U.S. Foundation). Photo courtesy of NYSCI
New York Hall of Science receives $500K grant
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
The New York Hall of
Science (NYSCI) and Cognizant
U.S. Foundation have
launched a partnership
that will prepare and inspire
more than 1,000 students and
their families in the science,
technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) world.
They made the announcement
during their “Exploring
the Tech Workforce” night on
Oct. 30 at the Flushing Meadows
Corona Park science museum.
The event, which was
geared toward high school
and college students, consisted
of a panel with four
diverse professionals who
currently work in the STEM
industry and a networking
portion in which students
got to speak with even more
professionals.
Cognizant U.S. Foundation,
a private organization
that supports STEM
education and skills training
founded in May 2018,
awarded NYSCI with a grant
of $500,000.
“What better investment
than an institution like NYSCI,
where we’ve long been
We’re hoping to inspire and attract students
by getting them into activities, learning,
networking, meeting with people in the field
and hopefully pursuing careers in this space.
Senior Vice President, Cognizant U.S. Foundation
invested in as a company,”
Kristen Titus, the executive
director of Cognizant U.S.
Foundation, told QNS. “We’ve
really been big supporters of
this institution because we
know the important role that
it plays in this community
and the role it plays in building
a pipeline for today and
tomorrow.”
The grant will be used to
fund NYSCI’s Science Career
Ladder, a program that trains
high school and college students
to act as facilitators (or,
Explainers) for museum visitors.
The program currently
employs 125 facilitators, who
represent 42 neighborhoods
Carol Cohen
across New York City and
speak more than 21 languages,
according to Cognizant.
Jamaica resident Kristian
Roopnarine, who recently
graduated from City College
with a masters in chemistry,
has been an Explainer since
he started his college career.
“It’s an experience that
museum visitors can’t really
find at a lot of other museums,”
Roopnarine, who’s
pursuing a career in coding,
said. “We help them at these
exhibits and explain different
science concepts and just
have conversations to try
and spark curiosity in them
so when they leave the museum,
they have something
to think about.”
Carol Cohen, senior vice
president at Cognizant, announced
the partnership
during the event and believes
that together they will be able
to offer even more programming
to help local students
learn about what it means to
be in the STEM industry.
“If you think about students
of this age, they’re really
thinking about their
whole future. The world is
their oyster,” Cohen said.
“We’re hoping to inspire
and attract them by getting
them into activities, learning,
networking, meeting
with people in the field and
hopefully pursuing careers
in this space.”
According to Cognizant’s
Job of the Future Index,
which tracks the demand for
jobs of the future, jobs within
the algorithms, automation
and AI category maintained
a steady 13 percent annual
growth. Some of the jobs included
in this category are
Computer Scientists, Cyber/
Information Security Engineer,
Software Developer/
Engineer, Video Game Designer,
Robotics Engineer,
and Data Scientist.
Margaret Honey, president
and CEO of NYSCI, was
also present at the event.
She’s hopeful of the future
and believes NYSCI will help
students achieve their goals
with this partnership.
“In a world where the nature
of work is evolving at a
rapid pace, our foundational
philosophy of ‘Design, Make,
Play’ guides us in preparing
young people with the skills
and competencies that will
serve them well, not only to
succeed in the future, but
also to play an active role in
shaping it,” Honey said.
TIMESLEDGER,4 NOV. 15-21, 2019 QNS.COM
/QNS.COM
