MOST, Micron launch new STEM fellowship program

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Micron Teacher Fellowship at the MOST is a hands-on STEM program designed to “inspire and support the next generation of innovators” in Central New York. The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST) and the Micron Foundation announced its launch on Thursday. STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Micron Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Boise, Idaho–based Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), which plans to build a semiconductor-manufacturing campus at the White Pine Commerce Park along Route 31 in the town of Clay. The new initiative is a first of its kind for the Central New York (CNY) community and made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Micron Foundation, the MOST said in its announcement. It will pay for year-long fellowships for two Central New York STEM educators. Fellows will deliver programming and provide support in the areas of semiconductor and STEM education at K-12 schools, MOST programs and exhibits, and other key community events. They will also continue in their full-time positions with area school districts during the course of their fellowship. Inaugural fellows The program’s inaugural fellows — Alexis Williams from Syracuse and Brian Heffron from Clay — were selected for their leadership in STEM education and their “commitment to inspiring the next generation of innovators in CNY.” Williams is a technology educator at North Syracuse Central School District, where she has led hands-on STEM and robotics instruction for middle and high school students. Williams has played a key role in developing curriculum for the Advanced Technology Framework, a “ground-breaking” curriculum-development partnership between Micron and educators’ unions that aims to broaden STEM and career and technical-education offerings in New York state, the MOST said. Formerly an instructor and principal at Oswego County P-TECH, Heffron is the Administrator of Workforce Development and Community Relations at CiTi BOCES, where he leads county-wide STEM and workforce readiness initiatives. “Micron’s partnership with the MOST, which began in 2023, has already introduced semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in an engaging and accessible way to tens of thousands of Central New York students,” April Arnzen, executive vice president and chief people officer at Micron and president of the Micron Foundation, said in the MOST announcement. “This new fellowship program will afford young people in the region even more opportunities to learn, explore, and see a future for themselves in the semiconductor industry by engaging with leaders already known in the academic community.”