Bridging the Gap 2025

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Contact

General Questions
Virginia Crisp
vcrisp@ncabr.org

Registration
Virginia Crisp
vcrisp@ncabr.org

Presenters
Virginia Crisp
vcrisp@ncabr.org

Exhibitors
Connie Bacon
cbacon@mindspring.com

Sponsorships
Suzanne Wilkison
swilkison@ncabr.org

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Bridging the Gap 2025

The 2025 Bridging the Gap conference will be held October 28-29 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park.

Bridging the Gap is an annual conference whose goal is to strengthen K-16 STEM education throughout North Carolina.

Bridging the Gap brings together educators, business leaders, government officials and others who play a role in STEM education to share ideas and resources to ultimately fortify and diversify our state and nation’s STEM workforce pipelines. Since 2012, more than 4,180 STEM stakeholders from North Carolina and beyond have attended.

Date: October 28-29, 2025
Conference Location:
North Carolina Biotechnology Center Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Who is it for?
- K-12
- Higher Education
- Industry
- Government
- Other STEM Groups

Let’s Get Started

PRICE PER ATTENDEE

Before September 2:

K-12 Education – $225

Higher Education : Members – $225; Non-members – $365

Industry: Members – $225; Non-members – $365

Government: $225

Other STEM Groups: $225

After September 2:

K-12 Education: $390

Higher Education: Members – $390; Non-members – $520

Industry: Members – $390; Non-members – $520

Government: $390

Other STEM Groups: $390

IMPORTANT DATES

September 3:
Registration prices increase

October 20:

Last day to receive payments by check
Last day to cancel registrations
Last day to register

October 28:
First day of conference (on-site registration is not available)

PAYMENTS BY CHECK

NCABR

Attn: Bridging the Gap Conference

P.O. Box 19469

Raleigh, NC 27619-9469

CANCELLATION POLICY

If you wish to cancel your registration, you must notify us on or before October 20, 2025, to receive a refund. You will be refunded in the manner of your original payment.

To cancel your registration, please contact Virginia Crisp.

The following is a national call for speakers, open to all STEM stakeholders, including K-12 educators and administrators, higher education faculty and students, and those representing nonprofit organizations, government agencies and other STEM groups.

Presenters are asked to share resources and best practices in STEM education. Presentations should be engaging and should foster collaboration between K-16 STEM education communities.

Each session will be 50 minutes in length.

PRESENTATION CATEGORIES

Citizen Science

50-minute presentation

Provides instruction and ideas for implementing Citizen Science with K-12 students. Citizen Science is the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. Sessions may address:

Implementing Citizen Science in the classroom
Working with research partners
Web-based tools and resources
Co-creating new Citizen Science topics with researchers
Data matters: Going from raw data to impact and classroom connections

Hands-On, Minds-On Instructional Practices

50-minute presentation

Provides teachers with inquiry-based, hands-on activities and practical guidance for incorporating STEM in the classroom using cross-content integration. Sessions may address:

STEM to STEAM, STREAM or STEMM: Strategies for building bridges across contexts and disciplines
STEM in elementary education: Bringing science back into the curriculum
Mathematical connections to the real world
Integrating creativity in the hard sciences with STEAM
Design thinking in the classroom
Problem- and project-based learning (PBL)
Instructional design innovations
Vertical alignment
The student-centered classroom
Teaching tools for differentiated instruction
STEM strategies and implementation
Grand challenges and critical thinking in the classroom
Online crowdfunding for classroom needs

Industry Connections: Employment Needs & Career Readiness

50-minute presentation

Links educators to industry leaders in the exploration of specific workforce needs both now and in the future. This track focuses on the connections between education and the world of work through industry insight. Sessions may include:

Future workforce needs
Specific STEM industry needs
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that address STEM industry employment needs
Middle-skill STEM jobs
Career readiness and employability
Extreme vertical alignment
Connecting education and employment
Career and Technical Education (CTE)
The 2+2 pathway
Industry involvement in the classroom
Digital disruption
Entrepreneurial design for teaching
Automation and artificial intelligence

Outreach Expo

5 to 10-minute presentation repeated for 50 minutes
Attendees move around the room to different tables

Provides attendees from higher education and informal/other STEM groups who are looking to share research outcomes and finished products with an opportunity to:

Disseminate deliverables from grant-funded research activities
Disseminate STEM education resources
Disseminate STEM curricula
Promote museum and other informal STEM outreach opportunities
Promote STEM programs for K-12 teachers and students
Promote products in the final stages of development
Promote offerings from university centers and institutes
Promote partnerships for ongoing and future programs with K-12 teachers and students

Preparing and Teaching the Whole Child

50-minute presentation

Explores learning from a whole child development perspective, which recognizes the complex environments in which educators must work while empowering students with the latest STEM learning. This track also explores how to prepare students for today’s information environment and it addresses practical applications and knowledge related to critical thinking, training and development for students and educators. Sessions may address:

How to support learning, informed instruction and intrinsic motivation
How to communicate high expectations in the classroom
How to develop student motivation, efficacy and perseverance
STEM assessment: Formative and summative
Social-emotional learning (SEL) and whole child development
Connections between student wellness and academic success
Deeper learning: 22nd century skills, including soft skills
Communication, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity
What we believe about critical thinking skills and why
Media and digital literacy

Spanning Silos

50-minute presentation

Connects higher education researchers with K-12 educators to explore the practical application of learning theory and current research in classroom instruction. Sessions may include:

The science of learning in the real world
Applying research to personalized learning
Free and open resources, textbooks, materials and courses
Curriculum mapping and authentic higher education experiences
Contextualized instruction
Higher education collaboration opportunities
Blended environments and classroom community connections
Higher education and community collaborations to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM

STEM 101: Exploring the Basics

Provides K-12 teachers with practical strategies to meet STEM classroom needs (time management, space, integration, differentiation, funding, etc.). This track is geared for educators and partners who are new to STEM.

STEM for All

Explores ways to design a STEM learning experience that meets the unique and differentiated needs of all children in the classroom. Leveraging the latest research in universal lesson plan design, educators will learn how to develop lessons and activities that work for all students. Sessions may address:

Serving K-12 gifted students
Serving K-12 students with disabilities
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 STEM education
Pedagogies for mentoring underrepresented students in higher education
Reaching low SES (socioeconomic status), rural, urban and minority students

Teacher Delight

50-minute presentation

Explores the recipe for redefining the teacher role in the classroom and ways teachers can feel supported and empowered in their work. Sessions may address:

Redefining the teacher role: Moving from lecturer to facilitator
Communication and partnering with parents
Professional development and capacity building
STEM discoveries: Fascinating new findings

TechSpace

50-minute presentation

Proposes alternative classroom designs that encourage active learning and development. This track focuses on emerging pedagogies and technologies designed to activate learning in new and meaningful ways. Sessions may include:

Artificial intelligence
Augmented reality
Alternative classroom design
Gamification of learning
The future of coding in the classroom
The tools, mindset and materials of makers
Makerspaces and virtual labs
Augmented reality
STEM video games
Artificial intelligence
Family Code Nights

IMPORTANT DATES

June 18 – Deadline to submit application to present
July 15 – Deadline for presenters to be notified
August 20 – Deadline for presenters to register for the conference or presentation will be cancelled
October 8 – Deadline to upload slides and/or other materials to be made available after the conference
October 20 – Deadline for outstanding invoices or presentation will be cancelled

REGISTRATION PRICING FOR PRESENTERS

If your presentation is approved, each person who will be physically present in your presentation must purchase a conference registration. Up to three presenters for each approved presentation will receive a 25% registration discount. (This is in addition to any “early bird” rates that may be in effect for all conference registrants.) A special code to receive this discount will be included in each presenter acceptance email. Please note that the additional 25% discount is limited to individuals listed on the presentation application. Presenter registration discounts cannot be combined with any other registration discounts.

PRESENTER UPLOADS

Presenters who would like to make their slides and/or other materials available on the conference website should upload their slides using the button below no later than October 8. We will post them after the conference ends.

What to Expect as an Exhibitor
at Bridging the Gap 2025

The Bridging the Gap 2025 exhibit space will be integrated into the heart of the action in the conference’s main thoroughfare – all on the first floor in the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s main lobby. Conference attendees will not need to search for you because they will mix and mingle and enjoy snacks, meals and refreshments where you are. Exhibitors will enjoy connecting with potential customers and they will enjoy Bridging the Gap’s fresh hot meals and all-day beverage service in a beautiful space known for its soaring 40-foot ceilings and gleaming hardwood floors – all awash in natural sunlight.

$395 FOR NONPROFITS/ $525 FOR OTHERS

What’s Included?

Logo included in conference program
6-foot exhibit table and a chair
WiFi and electricity included – most conferences charge you extra! (deadline to request electricity is September 11)
1 representative permitted to staff table (a value of $225)
Delicious hot buffet lunches and all-day beverages on-site – right there in the exhibit area so you never need to leave the conference venue – for both days of the conference.

IMPORTANT DATES

September 10

Last day to register as an exhibitor

September 11

Last day to upload logofor conference program
Last day to submit request for electricity at booth
Last day to cancel registration

October 27

Exhibit setup from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

October 28

Exhibit setup from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Exhibits open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

October 29

Exhibits open 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Exhibit breakdown starts at 3:00 p.m.

NCABR reserves the right to refuse to admit or to eject from the exhibit hall or any other area leased by NCABR for Bridging the Gap any person, exhibit or thing, at the sole discretion of NCABR, in its opinion, that is not in keeping with the character and purpose of the Bridging the Gap conference.