BY CARDINAL WARDE From Caribbean Science Foundation

The long-term overall goal of the CSF (http://caribbeanscience.org) is to help diversify the economies of the Caribbean Region by smulating more technology-based entrepreneurship, creating more high paying jobs, and thereby raising the standard of living of the people. It is widely believed that the Region needs to create more technology companies that would export more innovative and competitive products and services to bring in more foreign exchange, so we do not fall further behind in the global economic race. It is imperative, then, that we prepare the next generation for the challenges ahead!

Thus, each summer the Caribbean Science Foundation CSF) offers the Student Program for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE) to the most gifted 16 and 17 year old Caribbean students who are interested in pursuing careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. The goal of SPISE is to groom these youngsters to become the next generation of high-tech science and engineering leaders and entrepreneurs in the Region. The CSF believes that the “next Google” or our first Nobel laureate in science can come from such an elite group.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big “THANK YOU” to those of you who have already pledged to fully or partially support a SPISE 2016 student, or to make a general contribution to the work of the CSF. If you have pledged and paid, please ignore this message. If you have been thinking about making a contribution and have not yet taken action, please do so today, as we are now approximately 45 days away from the start of the 2016 program.

The purpose of this e-mail is to solicit a contribution in support of the 4 remaining students (from Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago) who are currently wait-listed for admission. Fourteen students have already been fully sponsored into the 2015 SPISE, thanks to generous contributions so far from this year’s individual and corporate sponsors. The cost of sponsorship for one student is US$ 6,000 plus round-trip airfare to Barbados.

Details and Benefits of SPISE

a. SPISE is modelled after the well-known and highly successful MITES program at MIT (http://web.mit.edu/mites/) for which Professor Cardinal Warde also serves as the Faculty Director.

b. SPISE is free of cost to the admitted students. SPISE aims for a balanced class of 50% girls and boys, and students from low-income households are encouraged to apply.

c. Student selection is performed by an international Admissions Committee consisting of academic and business professionals from the USA, Canada, the UK and the Caribbean.

d. SPISE is 4 weeks of total immersion (24/7) in university-level calculus, physics, biochemistry, entrepreneurship, Mandarin, Caribbean unity studies, and hands-on projects in robotics, electronics and computer programming.

e. SPISE discourages rote learning, and teaches the students how to focus on understanding and applying the fundamentals so as to achieve mastery of the material. Grades are not emphasized. Personal, academic and Intellectual development is emphasized.

f. The value of teamwork (learned in the hands-on projects) is emphasized, along with proactive time-management skills.

g. Instructors in the SPISE are university professors and lecturers from the Region and the Diaspora (including MIT). Some are senior management professionals from leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the Diaspora.

h. SPISE students are exposed to and coached by role models on career paths and choices, and assisted after SPISE with their university application packages, financial-aid applications, and internship applications to research centers in the Region and abroad.

i. Teaching Assistants reside in the dormitories with the students so that technical assistance and supervision are available 24/7 to the young students.

j. SPISE culminates with student project competitions in which each student team first gives an oral presentation of their hands-on project before demonstrating the workings of their project. These final competitions are open to the public, and sponsors and parents are urged to attend and cheer for their students.

k. The top SPISE students go on to enroll at some of the best science and engineering universities in the world with generous financial aid packages. SPISE students are enrolled at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, University of North Carolina, Florida Institute of Technology, Trent, University College London, University of Edinburgh, Royal College of Surgeons, Macalester, and UWI.

l. SPISE makes use of the facilities of the Barbados campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). Key important partners are the UWI – Barbados campus, and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Please view this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75UUowD7-oM, from SPISE 2012 to capture the spirit of SPISE. More specifics about SPISE can be found at http://caribbeanscience.org/projects/spise.php

Student Sponsorship

For SPISE 2016 we are aiming for a class of 18 students. We are almost there. Only 4 students remain unsponsored. The cost of sponsorship for one student is US$ 6,000 plus round-trip airfare to Barbados. With full sponsorship, we brand the student as the SPISE 2015 scholar of his/her sponsor. SPISE 2016 will run from July 16 to August 13, 2016, so we are about one-and-a-half months away from the start of the program. Please, therefore, act promptly if you are planning to make a contribution in any amount.

The various options for making payments to the CSF are itemized below. US citizens wishing to make their contribution tax deductible should use option 3. CADSTI is the Diaspora organization that formed the CSF.

1. By wire to:

Bank Name: BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA

SWIFT Code: NOSCBBBB

Branch code: 40055

Bank Address: Broad Street, Bridgetown, Barbados

Account Name: Caribbean Science Foundation

Account Number: 9013083

2. By check made payable in US dollars or Barbados dollars to the Caribbean Science Foundation, and mailed to:

Caribbean Science Foundation

CARICOM Research Building

UWI Cave Hill Campus

St. Michael, Barbados, West Indies

3. For US citizens, who wish their donation to be tax-deductible, please submit your donation to CADSTI- New England, a 501(c)(3) organization, by:

(a) Check made out to CADSTI-New England (designate “for SPISE” on the memo line) and mailed to:

CADSTI-New England

15 Huckleberry Rd., Hopkinton, MA 01748

or (b) credit card at http://cadsti-ne.org/donations.html (please check the SPISE button)

4. By credit card at donation page of the CSF-CADSTI Website: http://caribbeanscience.org/donation/

The CSF will reply to you by e-mail within 5 days after your donation is received to thank you and to make sure that your donation is applied according to your wishes. If you can think of others who we should contact for sponsorship, please let us know their names and e-mail addresses (phone numbers would be nice to have too). Also, please forward this e-mail to your colleagues who may possibly be interested in supporting the cause. A complete list by year (2012-2015) of previous individual and institutional SPISE sponsors along with a banner of logos of the Institutional supporters of all CSF programs can be viewed at http://caribbeanscience.org/about/supporters.php .

About the Caribbean Science Foundation

The Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) is an independent, non-profit non-governmental organization. The work of the CSF is supported in part by the Caribbean Diaspora for Science, Technology and Innovation (CADSTI) which founded the CSF as its implementation arm in 2010. CADSTI (see http://cadsti.org ) has its center of gravity outside the Region, and its primary function is to mine and mobilize the resources in the world-wide Caribbean Diaspora in support of the CSF.

The mission of the Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) is to assist with the diversification of the economies of the Caribbean Region by harnessing science and technology for economic development, and to help raise the standard of living of Caribbean people. Specifically, the CSF will continue to:

1. Stimulate technology‐based entrepreneurship ‐ by identifying and funding science and technology projects in new and existing enterprises that are relevant to the economic development needs of the Region.

2. Accelerate education reform that supports technology‐based entrepreneurship by promoting and funding programs that focus on:

o The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines.

o Business and entrepreneurship education.

o Foreign languages and communication skills in schools, universities and other educational venues.

3. Provide scientific and engineering advisory services to Caribbean governments by working with CADSTI to leverage the expertise that resides in the Diaspora.

With Thanks and Warmest Regards,

Prof. Cardinal Warde (MIT)

Interim Executive Director of the CSF

[email protected] ; Tel. 617-699-1281

SOURCE: Grenada Broadcast