The Girl Scouts of the USA is launching its first-ever STEM education initiative for middle and high-school students. CEO Sylvia Acevedo joins Cheddar to discuss what the newly-enrolled girls will get to experience when they sign up for the program. It launches nationwide in Fall 2018 and is sponsored by Raytheon.
Then, we learn about a very special photoshoot that saw Girl Scouts honoring their women-in-STEM heroes. Acevedo explains how five NYC-area girls were transformed into the likes of American computer scientist Grace Hopper, systems engineer Margaret Hamilton, and more. One girl even dressed up as Sylvia Acevedo, a former rocket scientist in her own right.
Finally, we ask the CEO to reveal her "Yes I Will" moment where she decided she'd persevere despite the odds. She gives an inspiring answer about her time in the Girl Scouts, and how it allowed her to pursue her dreams and become a rocket scientist. Acevedo hopes girls will follow in her footsteps and chase their own STEM dreams.
The popular online gaming platform for kids, Roblox, is reportedly expanding its offerings into the educational space. Ayal Shmilovich, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Investment Management, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into the report from the Wall Street Journal and how Roblox plans to incorporate the metaverse concept into schools. "I definitely think it helps them expand their market to a much broader audience," Shmilovich added. He also noted that Minecraft has 35 million users on its educational platform and was even more optimistic about Roblox's prospects.
President Biden is under some pressure from members of his own party over rising gas prices. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the president to utilize oil reserves to lower gas prices ahead of the holiday season, as gas prices are currently at a seven-year high. Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Roblox is getting into education. The gaming platform is investing $10 million into developing educational video games for middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. This marks the first time Roblox is putting money into developing games for the platform, and it comes as Roblox also plans to build a stake in the metaverse. Sarah Needleman, technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, breaks it all down for Cheddar.
Russia is being blamed for putting the International Space Station and its crew at risk after it fired a missile during a weapons test at a non-functional satellite. NASA has said that the debris from the explosion could potentially orbit the Earth for decades.
The collaboration platform Slack is launching a massive revamp at its annual customer conference, aimed at creating a more flexible and connected work experience. CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cheddar to provide some additional details about the digital HQ upgrade.
Bob Sutor, the chief quantum exponent at IBM, joined Cheddar to break down what the tech giant's new 127 qubit quantum processor, dubbed Eagle, will mean for computing. "We've broken through the way to scale these quantum devices to be bigger and bigger and therefore to be more useful," he explained. According to Sutor, quantum computing breakthroughs will provide faster or entirely novel solutions to complex, real-world problems in medicine, the creation of new materials, and even optimizing financial services.
