STEM Forward Announces Excellence in STEM Awards Winners to be Recognized at the 23rd Annual sySTEMnow Conference, Focusing on Let’s Go! Discovering the Joy in STEM
STEM Forward Announces Excellence in STEM Awards Winners to be recognized at the 23rd Annual sySTEMnow Conference, Focusing on Let’s Go! Discovering the Joy in STEM
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – October 16, 2026. STEM Forward is excited to announce the winners of the 2026 Excellence in STEM Award, also known as the Stemmys. Help us congratulate the following:
· Education Category: Hmong American Peace Academy
With its strong, college- and career-focused curriculum highlighting the importance of STEM, Hmong American Peace Academy (HAPA) is this year’s recipient of the ‘Education’ award. HAPA offers its predominantly Hmong scholar population many opportunities to explore STEM careers through partnerships like ‘Girls Who Code’, as well as multiple summer camps, pharmacy programming, and STEM and medical internships.
· Partnership Category: Milwaukee Math Collaborative
Milwaukee Math Collaborative (MMC) complementary mathematics collaborations make them this year’s recipient of the ‘Partnership’ award. Their partnerships include UW-Milwaukee Mathematics, STEAM Milwaukee, Learn Deep, the Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance (WOSTA), and TrueSkool. With a strong commitment to its community, students, educators, and families, MMC can foster a mindset that demystifies mathematics and treats math as play, curiosity, and identity.
· Individual Category: Peter Graven – St Francis School District
From fabricating prosthetic hands to managing hydroponics systems, Peter’s dedication to STEM and his students earned him the 2026 ‘Individual’ award. Peter continues to connect students with real-world challenges and experts beyond the classroom. Peter has led conservation and biodiversity trips to Costa Rica, created STEM opportunities for students, and supports fellow educators by sharing lab tours, equipment guidance, and strategies.
Fidel Verdin, Co-Executive Director of TrueSkool, will present the 2026 Stemmy Award winners at the 23rd Annual sySTEMnow Conference. The conference will be held on Wednesday, October 28th, at the Italian Community Center. Metro Milwaukee’s premier STEM conference brings together business leaders, educators, community members, and government officials to share best practices and lessons learned. This year’s theme, Let’s Go! Discovering the Joy in STEM, invites participants to join the discussion on new technology in STEM programming and outreach.
We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker, Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, who is an educator, designer, engineer, and writer. AnnMarie earned degrees in Ocean Engineering from MIT and in Mechanical Engineering from Caltech, and has combined robotics, design, music, and art throughout her career. AnnMarie spent 17 years as a professor at the University of St. Thomas, where she founded the ‘Playful Learning Lab’ to explore the intersection of creativity, technology, and K-12 education. Her collaborative projects included partners such as ‘OK Go’, the ‘Alinea’ restaurant group, and the ‘LEGO Foundation’. She wrote Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Education, co-created ‘Squishy Circuits’ and co-founded ‘OK Go Sandbox’. Today, AnnMarie leads ‘Listo Idea Co.’, consulting on projects ranging from workshop design to ocean-focused VR/AR experiences.
Our morning keynote speaker is Michelle Thaller, who recently retired from NASA after 27 years, concluding her career as Assistant Director of Science at Goddard Space Flight Center. A Waukesha, Wisconsin native and Harvard astrophysics graduate, Michelle is widely recognized from live NASA broadcasts, including the James Webb Space Telescope launch, and appearances on How the Universe Works, NOVA, National Geographic, Neil DeGrasse Tyson‘s StarTalk, and more. A recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal and 2026 inductee into the ‘Explorers Club’, she is now a globally recognized keynote speaker and science commentator.
To view a detailed agenda and learn more about the sySTEMnow Conference, visit https://www.stemforward.org/systemnow-conference. We encourage you to connect with STEM Forward on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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