The Booz Allen Foundation, TIES and aiEDU partner to help STEM educators inspire AI learning in their classrooms and communities

More than 100 education leaders from across the nation are expected to join a summit Thursday, January 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C. to explore the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on education.

The 2023 DC Capital Region AI Education Summit will focus on how educators can respond to rapid advances in AI and the technology’s impact on students. Generative AI models such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E have captured the attention of teachers, parents and students across the country.

The summit, hosted at The Helix Center for Innovation and organized by the Booz Allen Foundation, the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES) and The AI Education Project (aiEDU), includes a half-day seminar for senior education officials and administrators to empower them with tools and curricula that integrate AI throughout core subjects and computer science. An evening reception will bring together educators, community partners, civic leaders, and AI practitioners to encourage further discussion and help foster connections between leaders in government, academia, nonprofits and the tech community.

aiEDU, the Booz Allen Foundation and TIES are established partners in facilitating professional development opportunities for STEM educators across the country. The summit is the first of several events planned for 2023 that will tap education leaders and inspire them to champion AI education in their districts and communities.

The Booz Allen Foundation is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to empowering human potential and driving wider social impact. Supported in part by Booz Allen Hamilton, which employs thousands of technologists and is the largest provider of AI services for the federal government, the Foundation is committed to inspiring and empowering diverse populations to pursue new pathways of opportunity for STEM and advanced tech careers.

“This summit is happening at a critical time when educators are just beginning to grapple with the impact of AI in the classroom,” said Christine Hoisington, executive director of the Booz Allen Foundation. “This event is an opportunity to offer educators tools and strategies that will empower them to embrace AI to benefit their students, including those from communities most at risk for disruption from AI advancement.”

aiEDU.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates equitable learning experiences to excite and empower students with AI literacy, offers several free curricular products on its website that can be directly accessed by K12 educators, making it easy to integrate discussions, debates, and project-based learning that connect AI with core subjects and STEM courses.

“aiEDU has spent the last four years advocating for equitable access to foundational AI education for all students. It used to be hard to capture teachers’ attention to address what seemed like a far-off technology and challenge,” said Alex Kotran, co-founder and CEO of aiEDU. “Over the last two months, as the world has seen what even a relatively old model like ChatGPT is capable of, there has been a sudden realization that this is no longer a problem for futurists—it’s clear and present. Thankfully, there is a path forward for schools everywhere to respond, in the form of educator empowerment through teacher training and high quality, free, standards-aligned curricula that any K12 teacher can use.”

TIES leads the global STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice, made up of 100 communities operating across the globe, and is focused on improving STEM opportunities for all with strong connections to workforce needs of today and tomorrow.

Jan Morrison, founder and chief executive officer of TIES, said, “TIES and the 100 communities, hundreds of school districts, thousands of educators and millions of learners with whom we work are ready to embrace AI and harness its power. We view this partnership with the Booz Allen Foundation and aiEDU and this first summit as key first steps.”

About The Booz Allen Foundation

The Booz Allen Foundation was formed in 2017 as an independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. It serves as a convener of diverse stakeholders from the private, public, academic, and social sectors to solve challenging social issues through innovation and technology and build community resilience from the ground up. For more information visit https://boozallenfoundation.org.

About The AI Education Project (aiEDU)

aiEDU is a non-profit organization that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students with AI literacy. Curricula from the AI Education Project is free for educators. Learn more at https://aiedu.org.

About TIES and The STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice

With philanthropic support from some of the nation’s leading businesses and foundations, TIES STEM Learning Ecosystems have grown to encompass 100 Ecosystems in 34 states. While all Ecosystems work to improve STEM learning for all, no two Ecosystems are exactly alike. TIES facilitates the design of Ecosystems and the sharing of learning among them. Learn more at https://www.tiesteach.org.

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