Some 700 teachers, counselors and educational leaders from Missouri and elsewhere are expected to attend the Missouri Project Lead the Way Conference Nov. 15 at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Mo.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is scheduled to welcome conference attendees at 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 15. He will be introduced by Dr. Cheryl B. Schrader, chancellor of Missouri University of Science and Technology. Missouri S&T is the state affiliate for Project Lead the Way, a national effort to get more youth interested in studying engineering and science in college.

Following Nixon’s welcome, Dr. Vince Bertram, president and CEO of Project Lead the Way, will deliver the keynote address.

The conference is hosted by Columbia Public Schools in collaboration with Missouri S&T.

Established in 1997 in in upstate New York, PLTW has grown to a network of more than 4,700 schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Every summer, Missouri S&T hosts training programs for middle school and high school teachers. Missouri S&T is one of 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. that offer PLTW training, and one of only nine that provide PLTW training in biological science.

For more information about Project Lead the Way in Missouri, visit pltw.mst.edu.