The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Fri Oct 17, 2014

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell 3.0 (10961), 10/20, Missoula,Helena,Kalispell Oracle Fundamentals, 10/20, Helena, Missoula CANCELLED - 2014 Data User's Conference, 10-21/22, Helena, Montana -CANCELLED ITIL 2011 Foundation Certification, 10/22, Helena, Missoula Innovation Initiative- Changing The World With Social Entrepreneurship, 10/22, Missoula Montana State Procurement Bureau 2014 Vendor Workshop, 10/22, Bozeman, Montana Cisco Unity Connection Administration v10.0 (UCA), 10/23, Missoula,Helena,Kalispell MATR supporter: New Events 20480 Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, 10/27, Missoula,Helena,Kalispell Missoula Young Business Professionals Networking Social, 10/30, Missoula MATR supporter: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

It's better to walk alone that with a crowd going in the wrong direction.

"MEDA Fall Conference 2014: Harvesting Partnerships Across Montana", 10/27-28, Helena, Montana http://www.matr.net/ev ... =5146

Early Edge Montana

• Boston Asks City Parents to Fill Out a Universal Pre-K Survey
  Supporting this effort, Thrive in 5 -- a partnership between the Mayor's Office and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley -- is working with other community partners to "conduct a series of stakeholder focus groups across Boston, and offer online surveys to gather input about the strengths and needs of all of the City's neighborhoods for high-quality pre-kindergarten."


• Montana Governor's public preschool proposal worries some private providers
  The public preschool proposal, dubbed Early Edge Montana, would allow individual school districts to set up their own programs if they chose. The program would be voluntary for districts and for families.


• High-Quality Early Educators: The Challenges of Attracting, Retaining, Developing, and Compensating the Workforce
  The expansion of pre-K programs around the country has raised pressing questions regarding the early education workforce: Are there enough highly skilled preschool teachers to meet policymakers' goals?


• Gov. Bullock touts pre-kindergarten plan as economic driver in Missoula
  "I don't think we can wait another 21 years to get this going," Bullock said. "This has been seen in other states as an economic development and equalization opportunity, but we're one of the only Legislatures where this has never happened."


• "9 Signs of a Good Pre-K Program." What Does High-Quality Mean for Preschool Programs?
  To learn more about the traits of high-quality preschool programs, check out these additional resources:


• Three Quotes and a Picture
  "Our most important obligation is to the next generation of Montanans, to ensure they have more opportunities to succeed than we did. It's time that Montana give every four year-old access to high-quality, early childhood education that will set them on a path to thrive through their educational career and beyond." Montana Governor Steve Bullock unveiling a $37 million early childhood proposal, October 13, 2014


• Governor calls preschool 'best investment' Montana can make
  "If kids don't show up kindergarten-ready, they're less than half as likely to read proficiently by third grade," Bullock said. "If they don't read proficiently by third grade, they're four times more likely to drop out of high school."

Inteneo Systems

• How AutoTrader Put Analytics in the Driver's Seat
  "Data is a differentiator and our ability to access it quickly is a differentiator."


• Why the Next Wave of Automation May Replace Your Boss - It's all about Data
  McKinsey's surprising prediction is that, in coming years, smart machines will invade the executive suite. Much of the work of bosses, including that dismal arithmetic, will be automated.


• Using Big Data to Enhance Customer Experience
  This presentation provides key learnings from the journey so far and examples of the approaches and insights that are driving how we understand and interact with our customers to provide a better service.

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunities - Purchasing and Inventory Manager, CNC/Manual Machinist - Spika Welding
  Spika Welding and Manufacturing specializes in designing and manufacturing the highest quality work platforms and ground support equipment in the world.


• Montana Career Opportunities - Front-end Developer, Full Stack Developer, Sales, You Tell Us - Submittable
  More than degrees or particular skill sets, we're looking for obsessive, self-motivated people who have done one or two things in their lives that most people would consider exceptional or very interesting.


• Montana Career Opportunity - Information Technology (IT) Project Manager - Murdoch's
  Here at Murdoch's, we welcome energetic and enthusiastic individuals with a passion for exceptional service to become part of our team. Murdoch's offers plenty of opportunities for a boot slapping good time because "fun" is an essential part of what makes us who we are. Are you looking for a career where fun is a job requirement? Why not consider Murdoch's?


• Montana Career Opportunities - Application Administrator, Software Tester, Quality Assurance Representative, Contract Administration and many more - Edulog
  Education Logistics, Inc. is the original school bus routing software company and has been providing Routing and Planning software solutions to districts across North America since 1977.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• MSU alum Ryan Rickert (Clean Slate Group) advises budding entrepreneurs to try, try again
  The Clean Slate Group has grown 900 percent in two years, has 16 employees and is working on projects in 16 states.

Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

• Good Works Ventures makes its 11th Montana based investment in Ranchers Original
  Ranchers Original has developed a unique method for processing and marketing Grass Fed, rancher-direct, growth hormone free, pasture-raised beef that will capture substantial extra value for Montana Ranchers.

Montana Business

• Montana film industry members meet in Butte - Film Industry Jobs Available
  It isn't about glitz and glamour, but it is about the economy. People at the forum repeatedly talked about the importance of bring filmmakers here to the Treasure State.


• Filmmakers, industry converge on Butte for ground-breaking conference
  High-profile Hollywood filmmakers are welcome, but it was Montana resident directors, producers and commercial industry specialists converging on Butte Tuesday.


• Anaconda's Old Works Golf Course may close permanently
  “The loss of that course would be devastating for everybody,” Ternes-Daniels said. “It would be a huge economic impact if something were to happen to the course. The Old Works Golf Course is the flagship of remediation in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County. It needs to remain as such. It’s the duty of EPA, ARCO and us to make sure it does continue.”

Careers

• Women and pay raises -- how to have the conversation
  An employee seeking a raise should not wade into the boss's office and start grousing about money. They should have a plan.


• A Job Boom For New Graduates Is on the Way
  "We don't often see double digits this high."

Government

• Paying the Disabled Less Than Minimum Wage--Legal in the U.S.--Roils Britain
  The National Council on Disability, a U.S. government advisory body, says that about 420,000 disabled workers are being paid less than the current $7.25 federal minimum wage. The practice is allowed under a 76-year-old federal program that neither the Obama administration nor Congress seems in a hurry to change.

Incubators and R&D

• Stanford Bio-X scientists develop decoy drug to aid ailing brains that suffer strokes, blindness, Alzheimers
  A team of scientists at Stanford University has found that disabling the function of a single protein for as little as a week allows the brains of adult mice to form new connections, called synapses.

Utah Economic Development

• Audit cites 'inadequate oversight' in Utah economic development program
  A report released Tuesday by the Utah state auditor calls for more statute clarity, consistent administration and transparency in a corporate incentives program through the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."

• How the Maker Movement Can Change Higher Education
  By joining the maker movement, students are taking control over how they learn. The best way to learn is to learn by doing and making mistakes.


• Montana STEM group for girls hosts conference in Helena Nov. 7
  The event is designed for organizations and individuals who are committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to encourage collaboration among STEM groups.

Education

• Kentucky State University President Takes Pay Cut For Employees
  Interim University President Raymond Burse slashes his salary by $90,000 to raise the salary of the 24 lowest paid employees by as much as 40 percent.


• UM student says college loan debt repayment proposal gains support
  A plan drafted by a University of Montana student to make it easier to repay college loans is winning supporters, and it's bringing the topic of student debt into this year's campaign dialogue.


• Are student loan borrowers being 'driven into default'?
  "We are hearing from consumers that they are driven into default because private student loan companies are not providing concrete loan modification options," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement.


• A guide to paying off your student loans
  Take a deep breath and check out these expert tips.

MAPS : Media Arts in the Public Schools

• The very successful Media Arts in the Public Schools (MAPS) may expand in Montana
  The MAPS program in Hamilton now stands at a major crossroads for Montana. It has applied for a $4.5 MM I3 Grant with a 10% match requirement that comes from the Race to the Top program. If successful, it will be able to expand to 12 additional communities in Montana with each receiving not only the complete curriculum but also 3 years of funding to ensure success.


• Now Is the Time to Equip the Next Generation of STEM Leaders and Innovators
  While STEM employers search eagerly for qualified candidates, the pool of applicants continues to shrink. Just 16 percent of American high school seniors are proficient in mathematics and interested in a STEM career, and only half of those who do pursue a college major in the STEM fields choose to work in a related career.


• American Schools Are Training Kids for a World That Doesn't Exist
  We "learn," and after this we "do." We go to school and then we go to work. This approach does not map very well to personal and professional success in America today. Learning and doing have become inseparable in the face of conditions that invite us to discover.

Montana Education Excellence

• Hot-button topics join development at Missoula educator conference
  "Hostile bills to privatize our schools and eliminate teacher tenure are more than likely in the 2015 Legislature," he wrote in his conference note. "In this context, it is MEA-MFT's duty, in so far as we are a union of K-12 teachers, to design and deliver outstanding professional development to prove our historic and ongoing commitment to all public school schools and their communities."


• Collaboration between MSU and local school provides benefits to students, teachers
  The collaboration enables MSU education students to put teaching methods they learn in university courses into practice in a real elementary school setting.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Community colleges and corporate America - Teaming to tackle workforce training
  "Employers have realized what they can gain by partnering."

Community

• Store Brands to Cover Bands: The Lost Art of Local Imitation
  The most vibrant cities are the ones successfully empowering locals to compete with the outside world, and I want to live in a place that at least tries!


• A Whole Town Tries to Improve Its Customer Service: 'How Could We Be a 70?'
  "It's not about becoming B.F.F.s with each person who comes in right out of the gate, but moving the needle a little."


• American needs public TV, PBS chief says at MSU
  "'Ice Road Truckers'is not Ken Burns."


• Light Our Bridges campaign brings ribbons of light to Missoula's bridges across the Clark Fork
  Geoff Badenoch said that the group is paying to replace the city's existing bridge lights with low energy L.E.D.s as well. "When our project is done, the power bill that the city pays now will be less," he said. "So there will be more light, but it will cost the taxpayers less."

Energy and Climate Change

• Patagonia Will Start Paying for Homeowners' Solar Panels - Hopes More Companies will Follow Suit
  Patagonia hopes companies across America will follow suit with similar efforts. "Any U.S. public or private company who pays their fair share of taxes can use this strategy to speed up the development of new energy infrastructure,"


• Battery Charges to 70 Percent in Two Minutes
  Their new lithium-ion battery can be recharged to 70 percent in only two minutes -- allowing electric vehicles to charge about 20 times faster than current technology. What's more, the new battery has a lifespan of up to 10,000 charging cycles, 20 times more than the current 500 cycles of today's batteries.


• Atom-Thin Material Bends, Generates Electricity
  The science could lead to devices powered by the natural movements in the environment, whether they come from the wind blowing or a person walking.


• A Pump War?
  Bottom line: The trend line for petro-dictators is not so good. America today has a growing advantage in what the former Assistant Energy Secretary Andy Karsner calls "the three big C's: code, crude and capital." If only we could do tax reform, and replace payroll and corporate taxes with a carbon tax, we'd have a formula for resiliency and success far better than any of our adversaries.

Connectivity & Communications

• Router Makes You Anonymous Online, Skirts Censorship - Kickstarter Project
  Because Anonabox is open source, its developers say that if there are any flaws, they'll be easily fixed.


• HBO to stream shows on Web, no cable TV required
  10 million households that only have broadband Internet access have cut the cord with traditional pay TV sources.


• Privacy Router Anonabox Gets $600K in Crowdfunding--And Huge Backlash
  As of Thursday morning, the backlash against that project had become so severe that its total funding was actually ticking down rather than up, as disillusioned backers pulled their pledges faster than others could make them.

Government Technology

• North Carolina IT Takes Control of State Data
  Governments are realizing they have most of the information they need, but the data isn't shared in all the places it's needed.


• 3 Ways to Choose Valuable Open Data
  Benefits of machine readable government data are ample, and include data-based business creation, cost reduction by efficiency, insights in health, civic apps and government accountability.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• Ada Lovelace - the world's first computer programmer
  She developed a vision on the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching.

Cool Stuff That's Coming

• Chemical in broccoli sprouts may treat autism
  "We believe that this may be preliminary evidence for the first treatment for autism that improves symptoms by apparently correcting some of the underlying cellular problems," says Paul Talalay, professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins University, who has researched compounds like sulforaphane for 25 years.


• This Man's Simple System Could Transform American Medicine
  Developed by a trio of epidemiologists back in the '80s, the NNT describes how many people would need to take a drug for one person to benefit.

Transportation

• 3 Driverless Car Projects that May Change How the World Travels
  The Los Angeles Times reported that by 2025, as many as 230,000 new autonomous vehicles could hit world roads each year.

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