STEMvisions Blog

Education
19
May

March & April in Review

By Johnny McInerney

DC <> SxSW! Director Carol O’Donnell attended the annual South by Southwest Education Conference in Austin, Texas, and sat on a panel where she discussed to break down solutions on career-focused credentialing, K-12 STEM experiential learning, and partnerships that connect talent to opportunity.

Young people stand in front of a brick wall with colorful Austin, TX graffiti

 

Breaking Ground! Director Carol O'Donnell attended the Johnson & Johnson groundbreaking of a $2 billion dollar state of the art biologics manufacturing facility at Barton Collage in Wilson, North Carolina. The groundbreaking was attended by state and local leaders and hundreds of community members. Johnson & Johnson’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Operations and Risk Officer Katheryn Wengel address the crowd and discussed efforts to build a “talent pipeline” in Wilson, and to work with SSEC to build interest in STEM functions starting when kids were little.

a group of people holding shovels about to break ground

A Scientific School Visit! Director Carol O’Donnell and colleagues attended the Elementary STEM Showcase – presented by the National STEM Honor Society Chapter at Whittier Elementary School in Washington, D.C.. The students deftly displayed their prowess in the scientific method, as well as applied real world solutions to local environmental issues right here in the DMV!

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About the Author

Johnny McInerney
Executive Assistant

Johnny is the Executive Assistant to Smithsonian Science Education Center Director Dr. Carol O’Donnell. He was born and raised in Golden, Colorado. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder graduating Summa Cum Laude in Policial Science with a minor in Sociology. In 2018 he jumped onto a re-election campaign, and after a successful campaign worked as a staff assistant in the Member’s legislative office on Capitol Hill in Washington. After two and a half years he transitioned roles to become the scheduler for a Congressman of Southern New Jersey.  After he departed the Hill, he worked for a think tank for just under a year before he found himself lucky enough to take this incredible opportunity with the Smithsonian. He is passionate about a lot of things: food, film, roller coasters, oil painting, video games, pets, and people…just to name a few!