Basketball legend and hall-of-famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in San Diego Monday to give the keynote Address at this year's STEM Summit.
The workshop brings educational leaders throughout the state together to learn more about how to teach science, technology, engineering and math in school. It will also give students a chance to demonstrate some of their own innovations in those subject areas.
Abdul-Jabbar will join State Superintendent Tom Torlakson Monday afternoon. The summit kicked off at 9 a.m. Monday and lasts until Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina on Harbor Island Drive.
Abdul-Jabbar has been an active voice in the education sector and has written several books. On Monday, he was named California's After School STEM ambassador, and will be touring other STEM events like the one in San Diego.
“If America is to maintain our high standard of living, we must continue to innovate,” Abdul-Jabbar said in a statement. “We are competing with nations many times our size, and STEM learning represents the engines of innovation. With these engines we can lead the world, because knowledge is real power.”
Another popular speaker scheduled to attend is David Seidel of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He will share findings from the Mars rover Curiosity mission and discuss some of the tools NASA provides for educators.
