STEM / STEAM Forum

STEM / STEAM Forum

Pre-registration has closed. 

Register Onsite: Sunday 3:00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Administrators- Only able to leave the building for one day? Join us for the Tuesday administrator’s strand for $75. Pay and register onsite Tuesday morning (free with conference registration).

The 2018 STEM/STEAM Forum held at the Classic Center, Athens, GA on October 22‐23.

As the state’s premier annual STEM/STEAM event, the Forum brings together leaders, innovators, and champions from across the state that are united by a passion to advance excellence in STEM /STEAM education for all students.

Last year we broke a record with more than 1,300 elementary, middle, high school teachers and administrators, along with business and industry partners attending.

• Attend to learn how other schools across Georgia bring STEM/STEAM activities into their classrooms
• Learn how to bring greater awareness to the hidden STEM/STEAM economy of our skilled trade jobs
• Have the chance to win one of our 3 for $300 Grants for CTAE, elementary, middle, and high school teachers.

Teachers must attend the conference in order to apply for the classroom grants.

Cost to Attend Forum: $150.00 (for both days including lunch)

Attendee Registration
Vendor Registration
Forum Housing Reservations Portal
Order a shirt
Conference Overview Agenda
conference session schedule

Keynote Speakers

Wayne K. Li

Wayne K. Li is the James L. Oliver Professor, which is a joint position between the Colleges of Design and Engineering. Through classes and the Innovation and Design Collaboration (IDC), he leads joint teaching initiatives and advances interdisciplinary collaboration between mechanical engineering and industrial design.

Endowed by School of Industrial Design alumnus James L. Oliver, II (BS ID 1965, ME 1967), the Oliver professor embodies the idea of “multidisciplinary.” Oliver learned in his work as a satellite company CEO that when the two schools of thought he mastered as a student — mechanical engineering and industrial design — are used together, great projects can be achieved.

As the Oliver professor, Li teaches students that design behavior bridges the language and ideological gap between engineering and design.

Previously, Li led innovation and market expansion for Pottery Barn seasonal home products, was an influential teacher in Stanford University’s design program where he taught visual communication and digital media techniques, led ‘interface development’ in Volkswagen of America’s Electronics Research Laboratory, and developed corporate brand and vehicle differentiation strategies at Ford Motor Company.

He received a Master of Science in Engineering from Stanford University, and undergraduate degrees in Fine Arts in Design and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr Ietef "Dj Cavem"

Dr Ietef “Dj Cavem” Vita is a recent PhD honorary doctorate degree (in urban ecology) recipient, and father of eco hip-hop. With a mission to redefine health as wealth in the culture of hip-hop. In 2002, he founded an organization called  ‘Going Green Living Bling’, a collective of permaculturists, b-boys, community healers, herbalists, and other leaders of wellness; to come together share their knowledge and give back to their communities. 
 
In 2007, Ietef took his work into public schools to work with youth and was inspired to write his first eco hip-hop single entitled “Wheatgrass” followed by his album the Produce Section. His passion for music, growing organic food, and veganism and his impact on youth and communities work began gaining momentum and national recognition. From Oprah Magazine, Taste of Home Magazine, Origin Magazine, and Organic Life Magazine; to the Obama White House and as a special guest on the Rachel Ray show, he has planted the seeds living a plant-based lifestyle for a positive impact on health and the environment. 
 
In 2013, he and his wife, holistic lifestyle coach, Arasia “Alkemia” Earth, joined forces to continue to spread their message and together founded the Vita Earth Foundation, a holistic health and wellness humanitarian non-profit, where they conduct health and wellness summer camps and programming, and Culinary Concerts in schools nationally and internationally. On June 14, 2014, Ietef received and a proclamation from the Mayor of Denver, and again in 2017 from the Mayor of Baltimore founding ‘Keep It Fresh Day’,  a culinary climate action day. 
 
As a performance artist, speaker, and vegan chef, Dr Ietef “Dj Cavem” Vita has shared the stage with Nick Jonas, Kimball Musk, Arrested Development. Cody Chesnutt, Quest Love, Wyclef Jean, Gail Simmons (Top Chef), Bobby Flay, and Sunny Anderson. 
 
As a vegan chef, he has served clients such as Wilson Chander (NBA), Jaden and Willow Smith, David Avocado Wolf, and Rainbeau Mars.