Chicago May 3, 2014—The fourth annual STEAM Conference held at Northeastern Illinois University has once again proven to be a success!!! This year more than 700 students and parents participated in the event, attending a variety of more than 40 different hands-on STEAM workshops.

The yearly conference establiched by Aaron Cortes and Marcelo Caplan, co-chairs of the STEAM Conference was designed in collaboration between the Upward Bound Science and Math program at Northeastern Illinois University, and the Scientists for Tomorrow program at the Department of Science and Mathematics at Columbia College Chicago to facilitate middle schools and high schools students from the Chicago area to attend and also be able to present workshops to other teens fostering Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).

The STEAM Conference was held at Northeastern Illinois University Campus on 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue. Twelve Scientists for Tomorrow’s community partners sites presented several workshops at the conference. Each community partner presented one of these workshops: Go Go Gadget Light, Circuit Monster, 3, 2, 1 Balloon Powered Cart, Magic Brain, LED Multi Color Lights, Fruity DNA, Mouse trap Cars, Play-Doh Squishy Circuits, The Music of Wind-Wind Chime Making, Sound with the Wind-Wind Chime Making and Art Bot. For a large description of the workshops visit the Conference Workshop Sessions Description at the

Keynote speaker for the 2014 STEAM Conference was Georgette Yakman, founding researcher and developer of STEAM, a framework for Teaching Across the Disciplines, and Dr. Graig Wilson Ph.D, Senior Outreach Associate, DMSE, TAMU & Director for the USDA/HSINP Future Scientists program.

The conference gathered more than 700 participants and presenters at the event. Next year’s STEAM conference will be on May 2, 2015. The location will be announced. For more details of the 2014 STEAM Conference click on this link:
2014 STEAM Conference Recap.pdf