Two Black high school students say they have solved a mathematical mystery that some claim has eluded mathematicians for over 2,000 years. Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, both students at St. Mary’s Academy, presented their new proof for the Pythagorean theorem at the American Mathematical Society’s Annual Southeastern Conference in Georgia on March 18. The Pythagorean theorem is a fundamental theorem in trigonometry that describes the relationship between the three sides of a right-angled triangle. It is expressed with the formula a² + b² = c². The theorem holds true
The Kapor Center and the NAACP recently shared the findings of their research on the state of diversity in the tech ecosystem. From PreK-12 education to tech venture capital, Black people must overcome various challenges to progress through their careers. The research examined Black experiences at each stage of the Leaky Tech Pipeline, providing insights into the steps we need to take to ensure Black folk can thrive in tech. The leaky tech pipeline PreK-12 For Black students in the PreK-12 educational system, socio-economic disparities and a lack of access to
Leading cybersecurity and digital skills training company ThriveDX has partnered with the OneTen coalition to help Black talent secure tech and cybersecurity jobs – without needing college degrees. In 2020, America’s leading CEOs, companies, and talent developers banded together to form a coalition dedicated to upskilling, hiring, and promoting one million Black individuals who do not have four-year degrees. OneTen’s growing portfolio of 70+ partners includes educators, trainers, and providing Black people with the skills needed to secure “family-sustaining” jobs across the US. The coalition reports that they have helped more than 65,000 people secure top
Edtech startup Kai XR has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to expand its virtual reality (VR) educational resources to one million kids across the US. Kapor Capital led the oversubscribed round, which included Mitchell Kapor Foundation, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, and others. The Oakland-based edtech startup is making education more accessible through inclusive mixed-reality spaces that allow children to explore, create, and learn. From education to innovation Kai Frazier founded Kai XR in 2018. Through her time as an educator in the classroom and in museums,
Priyanjali Gupta, a fourth-year computer science student specializing in data science at the Vellore Institute of Technology, went viral on LinkedIn after using AI to translate American sign language (ASL). Gupta got the idea from her mom, who pushed her to put her engineering degree to good use. “She taunted me,” she told Interesting Engineering. “But it made me contemplate what I could do with my knowledge and skillset.” “The dataset is made manually by running the Image Collection Python file that collects images from your webcam for or all the mentioned below signs
Last week, Minority-Serving Institutions received over $175 million to improve access to affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet. The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced it awarded more than $175 million to 61 colleges and universities as part of the Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program. The funding comes from the Internet for All initiative which aims to ensure all Americans can access affordable, reliable, high-speed internet. The initiative includes funds for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Minority Serving Institutions, and
Particles for Justice, a diverse group of physicists, are calling on their colleagues to support Black Studies and LGBTQ+ visibility. The group, who also organized the 2020 Strike For Black Lives, is now calling on academics and professional societies to take a visible and active stand against the “authoritarian” attacks on Black and queer studies. The group includes participle physicist and feminist scholar Chanda Prescod-Weinstein as well as physicists Tim M.P. Tait (University of California, Irvine) and Nausheen Shah (Wayne State University). In a statement, the group criticized the “manufactured moral
David Balogun is raising the standard of Black excellence for all of us. The nine-year-old Pennsylvania native has made history as one of the youngest-ever high school graduates. According to reports, Balogun received a diploma from Reach Cyber Charter school, confirming his place as the second youngest child to graduate high school. Balogun has also been one step ahead of the game. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the 9-year-old scholar finished with over a 4.0 GPA, reports Business Insider. “When we tested him for giftedness in first grade, he had already passed
How educational companies like Teachers Pay Teachers and Pearson are using tech to help tackle racial inequalities in education. Historically, the tech world has often failed to fix the systemic racial inequalities faced by people of color. Because the tech sector has become a significant driver of economic advancement and social equity, advocacy groups have begun to inquire about its contribution to racial equity on a large scale. At the height of the pandemic, individuals and businesses heavily relied on the influence of technology to overcome the challenges presented by
Internships are one of the best ways for students and recent graduates to get a glimpse into professional life. The opportunities available are as diverse and far-reaching as the tech industry, ranging from systems engineering to sales and marketing. As well as developing real-world tech skills and professional experience, internships help newbie techies make industry connections to land jobs in the future. And thankfully, many tech companies have continued to prioritize internships, despite, well, everything. So here are some of the tech internships you should apply for on POCIT! Engineering
