CARIBBEAN SCIENCE FOUNDATION (CSF)
Student Program for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE)
Dear Friend/Colleague:
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. 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!
The long-term overall goal of the CSF is to help diversify the economies of the Region by stimulating more technology-based entrepreneurship, creating more high paying jobs, and thereby raising the standard of living of the people. SPISE uses the facilities of the campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill, Barbados. Key important partners for SPISE are the UWI – Cave Hill Campus, and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).
The purpose of this e-mail is to solicit a contribution from you in support of the 5 remaining students who are currently wait-listed for admission into the 2015 SPISE. This year we have capacity to serve 20 students. Fifteen students have already been fully sponsored into the 2015 SPISE, thanks to generous contributions so far from this year’s sponsors (please see list, as of this date, below). The 5 unfunded students are from Jamaica, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis and Grenada.
A complete list by year of all previous individual and institutional SPISE sponsors can be viewed at http://caribbeanscience.org/projects/spise.php near the bottom of the page. A banner of logos of the Institutional supporters of all CSF programs can be viewed at http://caribbeanscience.org/about/supporters.php.
SPISE 2015 will be held from July 18 to August 15, 2015, so we are just 40 days away from the start of the program. Please, therefore, act promptly if you are going to make a contribution in any amount.
Online contributions can be made by credit card at the CSF Website (via CADSTI) at http://caribbeanscience.org/donation/. Alternatively, donations may be made by check or wire transfer as follows:
| By a 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 |
By wire to: Bank Name: BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA SWIFT Code: NOSCBBBB Bank Key (bank + branch code): BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA (40055) Bank Address: Broad Street, Bridgetown, Barbados Account Name: Caribbean Science Foundation Account Number: 9013083 |
The CSF will reply to you by e-mail within 24 hours 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.
DETAILS AND BENEFITS OF SPISE
SPISE is modeled 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.
- SPISE aims for a balanced class of 50% girls and boys, and students from low-income households are encouraged to apply.
- SPISE is free of cost to the admitted students.
- Student selection is performed by an international Admissions Committee consisting of academic and business professionals from the USA, Canada, the UK and the Caribbean.
- 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.
- 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. Applying logical and analytical thinking to solve complex problems is emphasized. Grades are not emphasized; personal, academic and Intellectual development is emphasized.
- The value of teamwork (learned in the hands-on projects) is yet another essential skill that is emphasized, along with proactive time-management skills.
- Instructors in the SPISE are university professors from the Region and the Diaspora (including MIT). Some are senior management professionals from leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the Diaspora.
- SPISE students are exposed to and coached by role models from the Diaspora and the Region 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.
- Teaching Assistants reside in the dormitories with the students so that technical assistance and supervision are available 24/7 to the young students.
- 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.
- 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. In particular, SPISE students are enolled at or will be attending Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, University of North Carolina, Florida Institute of Technology, University College London, Royal College of Surgeons, Macalester, and UWI.
Please view the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75UUowD7-oM, from SPISE 2012 to capture the real spirit of SPISE. More specifics about SPISE can be found at http://caribbeanscience.org/projects/spise.php. The CSF Website is http://caribbeanscience.org.
STUDENT SPONSORSHIP
The full cost of sponsorship for one student is US$ 6,000 plus round trip air travel to Barbados. With full sponsorship, we brand the student as the SPISE 2015 scholar of his/her sponsor. However, contributions in any amount are appreciated anytime. The generous 2015 sponsors who have provided or pledged full sponsorships thus far, include:
| Caribbean Development Bank Central Bank of Barbados Sandy Lane Charitable Trust Emera Caribbean St. Lucia Electric Services Limited (LUCELEC) Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DOMLEC) Ministry of Education of Guyana |
Delta Airlines Massy Foundation Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development Kerosense Lamp Foundation CWC/Lime Dr. Anthony and Karen Rossomando |
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:
– The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines.
– Business and entrepreneurship education.
– 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
warde.csf at gmail.com
Tel. 617-699-1281
