We take a look back at past Spotlight and STeMie 
winners and ask Where Are They Now, including EIC, FIRST, Lexy and Lou Dobbs. Bryan Dyak of the Entertainment Industries Council catches us up on their recent success and Tony Levitan of Lexy.com sits down with us on the details of Lexy shutting its doors and the lessons he will take forward into his next venture... Read the Transcript

Brian Dyak Founder & President Entertainment Industries Council http://EICOnline.org

Brian Dyak, a pioneer of edutainment and depiction of health and social issues, is a nationally recognized impresario of social marketing and communication strategies. As founder and President of the Entertainment Industries Council, and the Entertainment and Media Communication Institute, he has successfully constructed a bridge between the entertainment industry and health and social policy issues for the past 25 years.Brian motivates creators and executives to engage in the “art of making a difference”.

Checking in on past spotlight and self-tending mushroom award winners gives us the chance to see where they are now. So, did Lou Dobbs continue to voice his opinions with CNN? Did FIRST robotics, Intel, and EIC continue to support and nurture technical talent? And, did Lexy succeed with its audio technology? Read on to find out. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics has been keeping busy. FIRST LEGO League teams from across the globe competed for the new FLL Global Innovation Award for the best creative problem solving ideas. Founder and inventor, Dean Kamen, said, “Creative ideas may be tricky to engineer, and even trickier to accept, but they are the only type that can solve the difficult technological problems of the future.” New partnerships helped expand the FIRST Tech Challenge to India, China and Eastern Europe, while new investors boosted the FIRST scholarship programs. Connections were formed with the President’s office to bolster after-school robotics programs and give credence to the annual robotics challenge. Meanwhile, Intel has been conducting online surveys to gauge the importance of math and science to teens and parents. Despite concluding that most people recognize the importance of the subjects and many teens have confidence in their abilities, the “nation’s report card” does not mirror this conclusion. Intel continues to support the promotion of math and science by investing more than $1 billion and providing over 2.5 million volunteer hours. The Entertainment Industries Council has also formed partnerships with the National Science Foundation and Boeing to promote careers in science, engineering and technology. Their newly formed Science Engineering and Technology awards are underway with enthusiastic participation from big names in entertainment. Lexy meanwhile “launched a new exclusive technology platform designed to offer personalized, on-demand, audio entertainment for the mobile market.” Short audio posts, known as Lexycasts, were created during the post-season NCAA tournament to great success. Despite that, Lexy has just this month, shut its doors. We are sad to see them go. As for Lou Dobbs, who left CNN, he has taken a job as an anchor with the fledgling FOX business network in an attempt to move on with his career. Unfortunately, he still keeping himself in the dark where US technical talent is concerned. To sum it all up... First Robotics is making its greatest impact yet. Intel is still relentless in their efforts to fix the technical talent pipeline. EIC’s SET Awards have met enthusiastic response from Hollywood. Lexy is growing and finding their niche in mobile audio. Lastly, Lou Dobbs is still employable and still in denial. So it looks like each of these spotlights and STeMies will stay in place.