VIRGINIA SECRETARY OF EDUCATION TO KEYNOTE VMASC CONFERENCE TUESDAY

A workshop sponsored by Old Dominion University's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) will give educators from public schools, community colleges and universities an opportunity to find out how modeling and simulation (M&S) can and should be integrated into classrooms.

"Continuity of M&S Education: K-12 to Graduate" is the title of the program on Tuesday, Aug. 21, as well as the title of the keynote address to be delivered by Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris. The workshop will begin at 9 a.m. in the E.V. Williams Engineering and Computational Sciences Building on the ODU campus.

Other speakers will include Michael McGinnis, executive director of VMASC; Roland Mielke, VMASC graduate program director; Michael Summers, vice president for academic and student affairs at Tidewater Community College; and Ann Marie Garvey of the Advanced Technology Center of Virginia Beach Public Schools.

Morris' speech begins at 11:20 a.m. and will be followed by a lunch for participants.

Afternoon working groups will divide participants into three groups:

*"High School: STEM, Games and College" will be led by Garvey and probe topics ranging from gaming-based learning to means of preparing high school students for higher education in M&S.
*"Undergraduate: Applied Degrees and Preparing for the University" will be led by Maury Middleton, assistant dean of engineering and technologies at Thomas Nelson Community College. It will focus on core M&S training at community colleges and in other undergraduate programs, as well as on M&S credentials required by industry and the military.
*"Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Research and Workforce" will be led by John Sokolowski, VMASC director of research. It will focus on upper level undergraduate coursework and research and graduate research to meet the current needs in the public and government sectors, as well as future research areas.

For more information about the workshop, contact Catherine Banks, VMASC director of academic services, at cmbanks@odu.edu or 686-6224.