(Frankfort, KY- October 2, 2019) – Representatives from Dataseam reported progress on Dataseam workforce initiatives to the Kentucky General Assembly Interim Joint Committee on Education. This economic and workforce development initiative not only supplies computers to Kentucky schools and conducts cancer drug discovery research, but also is providing industry-standard technology certifications, student apprentice opportunities and college scholarships as important education and workforce byproducts of this unique effort.
Dataseam CEO Brian Gupton pointed out in addition to 2,232 Apple workstations recently placed in Kentucky schools and increased capacity to run cancer research for the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, Dataseam is in the middle of an extensive industry certification program for school technology professionals. Morehead State University and the University of Louisville continue to recruit and provide STEM-based scholarships to students totaling over $2.5 million. Dataseam is working with participating schools to employ students in a U.S. Department of Labor Certified, Information Technology apprenticeship program. It is a first of its kind in Kentucky.
Parker Smith shared his professional journey as part of the Dataseam training initiatives that have culminated in his dream job as CIO of Williamsburg Independent Schools. “The industry certifications, professional networking and support, along with the opportunities to engage resources on a national level have helped this country boy from Clay County to do things I could not imagine,” said Smith.
Smith is an Apple Certified Support Professional, managing Dataseam technologies for research and education. As part of its workforce development efforts, Dataseam has trained and certified more Apple professionals, as a percentage of population, than any other state.
Paige Hart, currently a 3rd year medical school student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and former Dataseam Scholar, talked about coming full circle in her education and career. “I dream of the day that I have my full circle moment when I used Dataseam computers as a student in Caldwell County to the day as a physician I give information on the drugs produced by those same computers,” Hart said.
Blake McCullah, one of the current IT apprentices and Whitley County High School student testified about why the Dataseam program is different. “I worked and learned about computer repair, system maintenance and computer network issues. And since this was my first job, I had to open a back account,” said McCullah.
“We have reported in the past on cancer research made possible by the DataeamGrid, but today we provided context, reality and faces to the education and workforce outcomes of our efforts with our K-12 and university partners,” said Gupton, “The investments by University of Louisville and Morehead State; the industry-standard training and certification; the opportunity and employability for participants enhance the return on the state investment in the Dataseam program.”
Dataseam built and manages one of the most powerful high-performance computing environments in the world. Kentucky K-12 school districts and 3 universities across the state work with Dataseam to enhance education, research and economic development in Kentucky. https://www.kydataseam.com/about
Even when being used by students and teachers, the computers lend their computing power to the DataseamGrid which runs advanced cancer drug discovery efforts for the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center.
At the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center, researchers and physician scientists work to create new and more effective approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, delivering the most advanced treatments to cancer patients with compassion and respect. https://uoflbrowncancercenter.org
