Students will have the chance to network with STEM faculty, campus administrators, corporations and graduate schools at the STEM conference.

The conference, Advancing STEM Education: Priming the Pump, will feature speakers from IBM, Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent, as well as professors and an alumnus who is a graduate student in the UIC College of Dentistry, who will share their experiences in chemistry and engineering. The conference will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 22.

The conference is part of a $2 million grant the campus received from the National Science Foundation in 2011. The focal point of this grant is called the PROMISE scholars program.

“For the last two years we have been observing a massive decline of students going into STEM majors because they don’t know what kind of careers they can get,” said Mansour Tahernezhadi, co-director of PROMISE and associate dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. “Having this type of conference will increase the level of awareness for students of STEM careers.”

The PROMISE scholars program focuses on incoming freshmen and sophomores as well as some transfer students.

“The intent is to encourage more students to stay in science, technology, engineering and math, and to provide campus engagement activities such as research, learning communities, opportunities for them to work with faculty, and a whole list of things to encourage students and to retain them in the majors,” said Denise Hayman, co-director of PROMISE.

A representative from Alcatel-Lucent, a company that focuses on fixed, mobile and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software and services, will speak during Wireless 101.

“They’re going to share information about wireless telephones and new technology, cellphone technology, 4G and how they take research concepts and develop them so that they can produce and create services for customers,” Hayman said.

A representative from Motorola will also speak about how smart phones are manufactured as well as the research that goes into that.

A representative from IBM will speak about critical thinking skills and cyber security.

“For the last two years we have been observing a massive decline of students going into STEM majors because they don’t know what kind of careers they can get,” Tahernezhadi said. “Having this type of conference will increase the level of awareness for students of STEM careers.”

The conference may help students become more involved in their major.

“This conference and the program in general is a really great networking tool because it’s going to provide you with a variety of opportunities from your freshman to your senior year,” Hayman said.

Students interested in attending the conference must register online by Saturday and can do so by visiting the PROMISE scholars page on the NIU website, bit.ly/1maJqev