Popular science educator Bill Nye visited Wichita on Wednesday to open the Ad Astra Technology Summit with a talk about emerging technology and the importance of critical thinking
The Ad Astra Summit is an event for Kansas educators, students and industry workers to come together and discuss issues and advances within the tech field.
Bill Nye took the stage of the Eagle Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Wichita on Oct. 4. He highlighted the power of storytelling in education, how technology has evolved and the role of artificial intelligence in the technological fields.
“We do want everybody to have an appreciation for the process of science,” Nye said
He also sprinkled in anecdotes about his life and his love of algebra and encouraged the men in the audience to pick up the fashionable habit of wearing a bow tie.
“We’re wearing bow ties, because we’re so cool,” Nye said of himself and Troy Tabor, WSU’s director for Center of Entrepreneurship.
The Ad Astra Summit was hosted by Flagship Kansas Tech, a non-profit organization focused on helping Kansas businesses innovate on technology and workforce development.
Flagship, as well as the Cosmosphere, the Kansas Turnpike Association and other Wichita-area companies were tabling at the event, sharing about their companies and job opportunities that can be found.
“I’m excited for a bunch of Kansans to come together and think about how technology affects us,” Flagship staff member Sierra Bonn said. “Not even in the industry but also in the classroom and everywhere in between.”
The summit highlighted Kansas innovation and technology through three breakout sessions and a structured networking event over lunch, encouraging educators to learn about the future of technology in the classroom and in the future job landscape.
The breakout sessions were grouped into sections for those attending, including talks on startups, workforce, industry and education.
Attendees were invited to participate in a “Data Walk,” a networking event that allowed those present to learn about current and future job opportunities in the Greater Wichita tech sphere, and to learn about skills needed to excel in those fields.
Ricki Ellison works with the Greater Wichita Partnership and is an adjunct professor for the College of Applied Studies at Wichita State.
Ellison said the summit put an emphasis on educators, with several WSU staff and faculty in attendance.
“We want to get all the educators in the room to build those connections and network with the industries,” Ellison said. “We want to have a feedback loop created, so we have everyone walking around to the different industries and the different businesses to build those connections.”
During the networking event, educators and attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of the business representatives and learn about technical and soft skills needed for each industry.They included representatives across financial, manufacturing, aerospace and other industries.
Ellison said the summit highlighted the role technology plays in many industries in Wichita.
“We know that we can have a great impact, as long as we allow our youth, our schools, to really know what type of industries and opportunities they have here locally,” Ellison said. “So that at an early age they feel integrated into our community, which is really what we’re trying to do.”
The Ad Astra Summit closed with a session on AI with Justin Herman, the vice president and chief information officer of Panasonic Energy of North America.
During his keynote, Nye said that people shouldn’t be afraid of AI technology and its capabilities but that they should embrace the opportunities for advancement that it presents.
“It’s important to realize that technology doesn’t do something,” Nye said. “We do something with the technology we create.”
