Students used bananas to conduct studies in measuring volume at STEM Summer Camp at Bay Mills Community College in Brimley, MI.
THE SCIENCE OF TEACHING Students are more likely to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) if their exposure to those subjects is enhanced by teachers delivering engaging lessons. TARDEC supports STEM teacher certification to complete that link in the educational chain. Teacher training leads to higher interest in the classroom. By Michael I. Roddin and Gregory Chappelle 32
One of the first science projects Ben Davis asked his students to work on last September was a crystal-forming experiment he learned during Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) certification training at the U.S. Naval Academy over the summer. “We made crystals with borax,” elaborated Davis, who taught science to 9–12 grade students at the Bay Mills Ojibwe Charter School in Keweenaw Bay, MI, in the Upper Peninsula (UP). “It was a way to show how ions react and we talked about super-concentrated solutions. The students were excited about making their own crystal shapes and seeing the results with different concentrations of borax.” In an effort to expand STEM initiatives, the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), with funding received from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), reaches out to students and their teachers. TARDEC supported Davis’s trip to Annapolis, MD, in July 2011 when he attended the week-long STEM teacher certification workshop. Always eager for new activities to ignite his students’ interest, Davis relished the opportunity to take the training.
Davis’s STEM certification training was the continuation of OSD’s National Defense Education Program (NDEP) goal to better equip teachers to improve classroom instruction in STEM subjects in addition to its
“Hands-on activities are more engaging to the students. A more engaged student is going to learn more and retain it longer.” — Ben Davis STEM-certified teacher
OSD localized its teacher training efforts in 2010 when it selected TARDEC’s Greg Chappelle as its Michigan NDEP STEM Coordinator. Chappelle has coached middle school students in STEM competitions and led his teams to more than $70,000 in awards in the Army’s eCYBERMISSION Science Contests. In outreach efforts for TARDEC, Chappelle has recruited seven K-12 teachers from the Detroit Public Schools (DPS), Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) and, most recently, the Keweenaw Bay tribal community schools in the UP. The first six teachers attended OSDsponsored Center for the Advancement of STEM Education (CASE) training at Garrett College in McHenry, MD, in July 2010. Two of those OSD STEMcertified teachers — Nicole AmesPowell of Detroit’s Noble Middle School and Michael Frantsen, who teaches at the Roberto Clemente Student Development Center, an alternative high school in Ann Arbor — took their training a step further. In addition to strengthening STEM instruction in their classrooms, Ames-Powell and Frantsen taught students in a STEM Summer Camp held at the Native American Tribal College
of Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) in Brimley, MI. Davis also served as a STEM teacher at the camp, which welcomed 26 middle school students from the Ojibwa Indian Reservation and Sault Ste. Marie, MI, community. TARDEC entered an agreement with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) to host multiple STEM Summer Camps at Michigan’s Tribal Colleges — the organization's first such partnership with Native American schools.
A NATIONAL EFFORT STEM teacher training sprung from the multitude of STEM summer camps around Michigan, organized and funded by TARDEC and the OSD. Many elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and government agencies and research centers are investing in ongoing and sustainable STEM-focused curricula that are engaging, dynamic and rigorous at all student levels. “TARDEC has made a commitment to advancing training, professional development and educational opportunities for teachers so they can prepare students to compete successfully in future global STEM markets,” commented Andrea Simon, a member of TARDEC’s University Partnerships Team. Simon and Chappelle also teach at the summer camps. The national teaching certification program dates back to June 2006, when the Department of Defense (DoD) funded and established the National Center for Advancement of STEM Education (nCASE) at the Fayette Institute of Commerce and Technology in Uniontown, PA. The nCASE mission is to “achieve global excellence by motivating young minds to solve tomorrow’s challenges with innovations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.” The center trains teachers as a catalyst, encouraging classroom
ED UCATI O N & P RO FESS IO N AL D EVE LO PM EN T ED IT IO N
“We participated in many hands-on activities that could be used in a physical science class,” he commented. “The instructors went into immense detail to reinforce the background of each activity, so that we could take back activities and teach them with fidelity. Hands-on activities are more engaging to the students. A more engaged student is going to learn more and retain it longer.”
outreach efforts aimed at encouraging STEM students. TARDEC historically has made deliberate efforts to reach out to K-12 schools around the country and in Michigan’s urban districts and tribal communities, introducing teachers to new instructional tools and techniques and helping them integrate current STEM educational knowledge into classroom learning environments and academic curricula.
33
Davis proved an important choice because he teaches all the science subjects required for students to graduate — biology, chemistry and ecology. “The students only need three years of science, but they have the option to go to the main high school to take physics if they wish. I work for an alternative school and we have quite a few students who come over to make up credits, then return to the main high school for graduation.”
Science teacher Michael Frantsen helps students stage their homemade rockets for launch at a recent STEM Summer Camp, which included experiments in rocket-building, robotics, forensics, volume and friction. Frantsen, a STEMcertified teacher from Ann Arbor, MI, says his OSD-sponsored training “opened up my frame of thought on how to incorporate STEM into new or existing projects.” (U.S. Army TARDEC photos by Andrea Simon.)
innovation and developing creative solutions for current and emerging challenges in STEM education.
ED UCATIO N & P RO FESSIO NAL D E VE LO PM ENT ED I TIO N
“The status of STEM education in the United States has been well publicized and documented,” remarked nCASE Executive Director Dr. Stephen M. Priselac. “The United States is not meeting its current or projected needs for engineers and scientists, with ominous portents for our Nation’s future and posterity.”
34
Working with TARDEC’s National Automotive Center (NAC), NDEP began identifying candidates for teacher training at nCASE. During the five-day course, teachers are paired with STEM professionals who introduce them to the latest training techniques and literature. TARDEC also hopes to plant the prospect in students’ career plans that the government offers rewarding work in science, engineering and technology, and teachers are an influential and respected source to convey that knowledge.
RECRUITING TEACHERS TARDEC made it a priority last year to recruit Native American STEM teachers. With help from Bay Mills Community College’s Aaron Tadgerson, Chappelle located Ben Davis (a Native American STEM Teacher) through work with BMCC, which hosted two STEM summer camps. “I have worked with Ben Davis since 2009,” noted Tadgerson, recruiter and land grant coordinator at BMCC. “I hired Ben to work at [STEM] Summer Camp 2011, which was co-sponsored with TARDEC. Ben teaches high school science and knows many of the young people that the camp targeted.” Tadgerson added that Chappelle and Simon “worked diligently” to secure a partnership with BMCC and expanded the network by including the AIHEC headquartered in Alexandria, VA. The partnership allowed TARDEC and OSD to award contracts to all three of Michigan’s Tribal Colleges and laid the groundwork for DoD to work with 34 other Tribal Colleges and Universities across the United States.”
Davis and Tadgerson are part of the team, including professors from Lake Superior State University, planning the next STEM camp, to be held this summer. “This camp is being coordinated by Heather Pricket at BMCC,” Davis explained. “We are collaborating on a science project that would be similar to last summer’s camp, but with an emphasis on robotics. I think we are going to use the LEGO® Robotics model and somehow incorporate an environmental awareness theme into this project.” The camp will target students in grades 6-9, but older high school students may also participate.
PAST SUCCESSES Michael Frantsen, the Ann Arbor science teacher, applied his STEM training in other classes he teaches. “It opened up my frame of thought on how to incorporate STEM into new or existing projects,” he related. “Now, no longer will my drafting/ architecture class be only drawing up a floor plan. Instead it will be all about that plus some alternative energy concepts — I can make it more math-based, with basic engineering fundamentals [load, forces, etc.] that act on structures.” Frantsen also teaches Information Technology, Physical Technology, Drafting 1, Economics and U.S. Government.
Frantsen points out that exposing these students to a career path makes a difference in the way they approach their studies. “I want to make students aware that there is a diverse job market out there and, if they’re willing to learn, any exposure to real-world projects that address real problems can help them realize they could be, or aspire to be, a research scientist, engineer, energy consultant or architect. Sooner or later, they’ll find something they like,” Frantsen concluded.
Detroit teacher Nicole Ames-Powell (right) prepares middle school students to conduct an experiment in friction at a STEM Summer Camp last August in Brimley, MI. Ames-Powell is one of seven teachers TARDEC has recruited for week-long training through the National Center for the Advancement of STEM Education (nCASE) in Fort McHenry, MD.
“I have incorporated more mathematics into our robotics lessons, such as gear ratios and elapsed time. I’ve also tried to branch out of the traditional tech education classroom lessons and get into solving some of today’s problems.
After Nicole Ames-Powell completed her nCase training, she
Other STEM-certified teachers have entered their students in academic and robotics competitions. Two teachers from Detroit’s Ralph W. Emerson School acquired their CASE certifications and, subsequently, guided their students in events last year. Emerson students won 2nd- and 3rd-place awards in Lawrence Technological University’s Robofest contest, 2nd place in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Jet Toy Olympics and 3rd place in the You Be the Chemist competition.
Gregory Chappelle is the Michigan NDEP STEM Coordinator and TARDEC Historically Black Colleges and Universities/MI Liaison Officer. He holds a B.S. in physics and a B.S. in chemistry from Eastern Michigan University (EMU), a B.S.E.E. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in physical chemistry and an M.S. in analytical chemistry from EMU, as well as Michigan teaching certifications in secondary education for physics, chemistry and math. Chappelle is a two-time recipient of the U.S. Army National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Roy Wilkins Renown Service Award (2003 and 2006) and won U.S. Black Engineer of the Year Awards in 1995 and 2005 for his numerous contributions to his community, country and the U.S. Army.
ED UCATI O N & P RO FESS IO N AL D EVE LO PM EN T ED IT IO N
“For example, our ‘Mechanical Arm’ project is geared toward a handicapped person who’s paralyzed from the chest down and is unable to bend over and reach for things from his wheelchair. Students are instructed to tailor the mechanical arm to their own, as if they were the handicapped person. Once measuring is done, students come up with designs that incorporate compactness, strength and function. The students are then required to pick up specific objects within a determined time frame. It’s an interesting project and incorporates reality, math, technology and engineering.”
introduced an entire STEM Day, with TARDEC support, at her middle school in Detroit. “I intend to move forward with an annual STEM Day from here on out,” she stated. “The topics will change, but the basis will still be to motivate students through real-life activities, using science, technology, engineering and mathematics. While last year’s STEM Day had a heavy emphasis on forensic science, this year I’m planning to do activities involving motion.”
AUTHOR BIOs: Michael I. Roddin is accelerate Magazine Editor-In-Chief. He holds B.S. degrees in English and journalism from the University of Maine and an M.S. in marketing from the University of Southern California. Roddin is a former Army Advertising Program Manager and 3-time Army Keith L. Ware Journalism Award recipient. In 2005, he was selected by the Secretary of the Army for Editor-of-the-Year honors.
35
ED UCATIO N & P RO FESSIO NAL D E VE LO PM ENT ED I TIO N
36
COL Charles Dease, TARDEC Military Deputy, talks to a student at The Parade Company event during STEM Awareness Week in Detroit. (U.S. Army photo.)
steM GROWS TECH TALENT Demand for science and technology skills keeps rising, but supply of competent students has lagged. The latter is a troubling trend for tech organizations. Through STEM outreach, the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) is dedicated to expanding the number of American students who become the next generation of innovators. Our country’s future productivity may depend on it. By accelerate Magazine Staff
Andrea Simon sees the results of the U.S. Army’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs each day when she comes into her office at the Detroit Arsenal, MI. Several students who participated in STEM activities in the past now hold engineering degrees and work with her at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). TARDEC devotes significant time and energy to engaging students from Kindergarten to 12th grade and keeping them on a path to seek careers in science and technology. The TACOM LCMC, TARDEC, the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) and several industry and educational organizations have joined together to form the STEM Alliance of Michigan. The Alliance’s goal is to restock the pool of aspiring engineers and scientists who will solve tomorrow’s challenges.
Efforts like the STEM Alliance of Michigan have sprouted up across the country because, in a future certain to require more technological prowess, the number of engineers and scientists born, bred and educated in the United States has waned. TARDEC and the TACOM LCMC have an immediate awareness of the
Students use a game-style controller to operate a robot at Lawrence Tech University’s Robofest display at the STEM Awareness Week event hosted by The Parade Company in Detroit. (U.S. Army photo.)
intelligence and resolve needed to solve the energy, software, engineering, transportation and sustainment issues on the technological frontier. Engineers at the Detroit Arsenal have long contributed to reversing the trend and meeting future demands for STEM talent. A U.S. Department of Labor study predicted a 34-percent increase in STEM careers between 2008-2018. “We’re looking at the impact of today’s engineers retiring. Studies say we’ll see a mass exodus in 2020,” Simon explained. “Our strategic goals are to work in conjunction with other organizations in the state to increase graduation rates, influence teaching and learning methods so that they address real-world issues, and develop a STEM workforce to fill existing jobs and support new ones.”
STEM outreach and STEM community engagement activities supported by TARDEC and the TACOM LCMC comprise a variety of activities, including: • STEM teaching events, such as Summer Camps held at Tribal Colleges in the Upper Peninsula and a Heroes Alliance STEM outreach event in Detroit last summer. • Statewide Family Engineering Nights. • Teacher training and certification (see related story on page 32). TARDEC engineers Bill Smuda, Dennis Calbeck and Herbert Dobbs used to work with teenagers in the TACOM Explorer Scouts — a program that has demonstrated the long-term benefits of student engagement. The troop included several sons and daughters of
ED UCATI O N & P RO FESS IO N AL D EVE LO PM EN T ED IT IO N
“The Army has hired 12 students who were involved in TACOM Explorer Scouts in the 1990s. Activities like this, plus math and science competitions and STEM summer camps, can change the lives of these young people,” explained Simon, a member of TARDEC’s University Partnerships Team and NDEP co-coordinator for the state of Michigan. “The STEM Alliance activities are designed to augment the curriculum in schools across the state. Educators have the expertise in this area, but we can add the engineering or science twist and provide real-life examples of how professional people use the data.”
37
Maintainability (RAM) — Test, Quality and Tire Team. “It also helped me develop the ‘soft’ skills of being an engineer, such as teamwork, communication and time management.”
ED UCATIO N & P RO FESSIO NAL D E VE LO PM ENT ED I TIO N
Children imagine they’re on a mission in the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV) during STEM Awareness Week. Reaching elementary students and showing them how science and technology can be applied is one of the aims of STEM groups throughout the country. (U.S. Army photo.)
38
TARDEC and TACOM associates, their friends and others who heard about it through open houses on the base and through local newspaper ads. Its objective was to nurture STEM skills and give students hands-on experiences that lifted math, science and engineering out of the textbooks and applied it with hands-on, practical exercises.
engineer who retired earlier this year. “We also started a robotics program to teach systems engineering, which wasn’t a standard Army practice then. We gave the kids nearly impossible tasks and, when they got frustrated, we showed them how to start a project with requirements and know what you have to do before you start engineering.”
“Our strategic goals are to work in conjunction with other organizations in the state to increase graduation rates, influence teaching and learning methods so that they address real-world issues, and develop a STEM workforce to fill existing jobs and support new ones.”
THE ENGINEER’S APPRENTICES
— Andrea Simon TARDEC University Partnerships Team and STEM Alliance of Michigan Coordinator
“We started a Boy Scout troop here around 1990 and soon had a cooperative research agreement with a group called Detroit Free Net to expand access to the Internet, which was a new thing at the time,” recalled Smuda, a TARDEC robotics
The troop diversified to include girls and boys, and took on projects such as building miniature robots, rebuilding used or surplus computers to donate to charities, building their own Explorers website, and a few fun projects to learn structural principles, such as popsicle-stick bridges and catapults constructed with pencils. TARDEC Engineer and former Explorer Scout Jill Goryca still has the “Best Shot” certificate she and a partner earned for their pencil catapult. “Explorers helped me develop problemsolving skills and gave me exposure to the engineering design process, including coming up with a concept and building a prototype,” commented Goryca, now a mechanical engineer on TARDEC’s Reliability and
Current engineers carry the technological torch forward, volunteering for STEM activities and advising students at events. Daniel Ryan, an electrical engineering intern and another Explorers graduate, is currently coaching a middle school robotics team. His team has already placed in a number of events. Christopher Scott, a systems engineer for the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office, has spoken to students and worked with teachers to employ inquiry-based learning (analytical) methods for science and technology students. “I spent a week paired with teachers from Michigan, exchanging different problem-solving methodologies, at the NDEP program in the summer of 2010,” remarked Scott. “At Cass Technical High School [in Detroit], I was an alumni speaker on a variety of topics, including academics, resume building, job searching, interviewing skills and careers in engineering.” Scott usually has to clarify what engineers do for students who think of them as people who “build things,” and tells young people about the importance of problem-solving and teamwork. He’s been on both sides of the tutoring experience. Scott also advises students through the Detroit Area Pre-college Engineering Program, which helped guide him when he was a student. “It was those experiences and individuals that led me to want to go into engineering,” Scott stated. “By continuing that cycle, by giving back and getting more youth interested in STEM fields, the next generation is being groomed. Another motivating factor for me is the fact that, statistically, the number of students going into engineering in college is declining. As a country, in order
to stay in the top tier on a global scale in terms of STEM skills, those numbers must increase.”
“Explorers helped me develop problem-solving skills and gave me exposure to the engineering design process, including coming up with a concept and building a prototype.” — Jill Goryca TARDEC Mechanical Engineer
COLLABORATION SPOKEN HERE In Michigan, both the military and the automotive industry have a critical stake in cultivating more engineers. But the effort extends far beyond this industrial beltway. Simon, along with TARDEC outreach colleagues Derhun Sanders and Greg Chappelle, launched the STEM Alliance of Michigan to unite groups around the state in collaborating to elevate and maintain students’ interest in STEM subjects.
Additionally, ArtServe Michigan, a statewide arts and cultural advocacy organization, supports the group by providing public policy and advocacy advice to ensure that the Alliance’s message is heard by legislators and community leaders. “All the partners have the STEMrelated mission in their interest,” said
Student use toy building blocks to learn basic principles of construction and simple robotics. These students attended STEM Awareness Week, which introduces students interested in science and math to possible careers in those fields. (U.S. Army photo.)
Donna Edwards, TACOM LCMC public affairs officer. “We’re trying to get everyone’s support and make this everybody’s problem to solve, because it’s not unique to any single organization, and collaboration will make all of us stronger.” For 2012, the partners, with the help of Automation Alley, worked to get the state senate to designate the fourth week in March as Michigan STEM Awareness Week. Events during the week included hands-on, interactive
exhibits at The Parade Co. in Detroit, where school children learned how math, science and engineering can be applied to real-world projects, and an event hosted by Ford Motor Co. at the Ford River Rouge Factory Tour building in Dearborn, where students saw the start-to-finish production of a Ford F-150 truck. Other activities included a robotics demonstration hosted by Lawrence Technological University and interactive exhibits hosted by the various partners. Besides events, the Michigan STEM Partnership, an
ED UCATI O N & P RO FESS IO N AL D EVE LO PM EN T ED IT IO N
The STEM Alliance of Michigan, in addition to the Michigan STEM Partnership, is bringing together the Army, industry, the education sector, non-profits, community organizations, the National Defense Industrial Association and government agencies, such as the Michigan Economic Development Corp., to help develop future scientists and engineers. Detroit Public Television and Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing, both part of the STEM Alliance of Michigan, are providing communications support.
39
“In the past, states set passing scores and there was no way to easily compare them to scores on tests in other states. For instance, we could find that 91 percent of students in Virginia tested as proficient on their science test, but in Massachusetts, 41 percent were proficient. The fact is, Massachusetts sets its bar that much higher, so their proficient students are achieving a higher standard of learning.” Several former TACOM Explorers are now TARDEC associates. Here are a few, along with their advisors (from left): Herb Dobbs, Ken Ciarelli, David Ryan, Bill Smuda (retired), Jill Goryca, Dennis Calbeck and Daniel Kedziorek. (TACOM Media Center photo by Karen Nemeth.)
affiliate of the STEM Alliance of Michigan, will launch a STEM asset map that serves as a statewide resource identifying local programs, schools, businesses and other organizations working on this cause.
“By continuing that cycle, by giving back and getting more youth interested in STEM fields, the next generation is being groomed.”
ED UCATIO N & P RO FESSIO NAL D E VE LO PM ENT ED I TIO N
— Christopher Scott TARDEC Systems Engineer
40
The Alliance also looks to Ohio, where the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) serves as a model for broadening STEM education. For instance, the Ohio program has started its own schools — the Dayton Regional STEM Center and Dayton Regional STEM School — and has worked with STEM Fellows, who advise schools on tailoring the curriculum for these students.
RESETTING THE BAR STEM activism has become a national crusade, driven by statistics such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) study revealing that half the science and engineering doctoral degrees earned at U.S. colleges and universities went to non-U.S. citizens in 2006 (the last year the NSF tracked this trend).
The White House established goals of training 100,000 math and science teachers and increasing STEM graduates by at least 1 million within the next 10 years to fill the projected number of positions that will require STEM-related skills. The administration also endorsed a STEM activism organization called Change the Equation (CtE), which can help with STEM education through advocacy and fund-raising guidance. CtE recruited an all-star lineup of corporate CEOs to join the effort and has support from the Carnegie Corporation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. CtE advocates for higher standards in statewide science testing for 8th grade students, and established the National Assessment of Education Progress as the barometer for measuring states’ proficiency thresholds. “States can have the best classroom content but in the end when they set the bar on those tests and set it low, lots of students pass, but in reality it doesn’t mean much,” remarked Claus Von Zastrow, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Research for Change the Equation. “Students who pass [that low bar] could be doing poorly compared to the national standard, and the community at large and parents will never know it.
Von Zastrow also pointed out that while the United States has recently relied on scientific and technological talent from foreign countries, that resource will probably shrink in the future and we’ll have to expand our own pool of scientists and engineers. “More than in past decades, people from other countries attend our universities and get degrees in STEM fields, and then after a few years decide to go back home,” Von Zastrow commented. “Many of their countries are developing job opportunities fast. It’s already harder for us to import our talent. Graduates from other countries see home as a better prospect than before. The promise of life in America still burns pretty bright, but not as much as in the past because other countries are developing and catching up.”
SPREADING THE TECH MESSAGE Simon remarked that Michigan has its own challenges attracting the top STEM graduates, and part of the Partnership’s mission is increasing awareness that Michigan offers excellent science and technology careers. Simon and Chappelle have also made an effort to attract more minorities into engineering by holding summer camps in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula tribal communities and STEM outreach events in Detroit. Chappelle coached several Detroit middle school teams to success in eCYBERMISSION competitions, and
won a $9,000 award for Durfee Middle School in 2005 when they finished second in the Northwest Region for a project designing an additional bridge and tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, Canada.
“Increasing the number of STEM graduates is better addressed by coordinated partnerships than by individual organizations trying to address the issue in isolation,” — Andrea Simon TARDEC University Partnerships Team and STEM Alliance of Michigan Coordinator
Christopher Scott mainly works with Detroit Public School students in his STEM activities. “At times, when I speak to students, many of them have never seen an African-American engineer, and to break the barrier in their mind about what engineers look like was very encouraging to them, as
help us exteNd Our reach
But TARDEC needs associates and other subject-matter experts to help engage these students. As the numbers of participants in events such as eCYBERMISSION, RET Week, the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) and the Intelligent Ground Vehicle
well as me,” Scott observed. “Going into the school system allows me to spread knowledge about the STEM fields to kids who otherwise may not have known. They ask so many questions about what I do at work and
Competition (IGVC) continue to grow, we will need more volunteers from the LCMC community. At eCYBERMISSION, for instance, participants will increase by 104 per year, forecasts say. The number of student teams is expected to increase by 27 each year, and participating schools should increase by nine a year. Volunteers will be needed to speak to schools, serve as judges for eCYBERMISSION and JSHS, run booths at RET Week and become involved as mentors. Participation from leadership, is a key to driving associate involvement. “We need top leadership saying: ‘This is good.’ It has to trickle down to the associate directors to allow their personnel to get involved,”
engineering in general. With the knowledge they receive, they spread it to others, which creates that cycle of learning. It was and always is a joy to see the children get excited about learning,” Scott concluded.
remarked TARDEC Communications and Outreach Director Derhun Sanders. “We also need to determine the rules of engagement, such as the number of hours an associate will be pulled out for outreach, because their job for the most part, is to be an engineer and you can’t pull them out full-time to do outreach.” Engineers and scientists can do their part on a local level, too, Sanders reminds them. “Get out and get involved with outreach and talk with students at their children’s schools,” he stated. To get involved and volunteer your services for one of the annual STEM events, please contact Fonda Brown at (586) 282-0763.
ED UCATI O N & P RO FESS IO N AL D EVE LO PM EN T ED IT IO N
If the number of participants at STEM education programs and events are any indication, these outreach efforts are doing the job. Encouraging students to pursue STEM fields continues to be a priority for the U.S. Army, TARDEC and its TACOM LCMC partners.
TARDEC Systems Engineer Christopher Scott, Robotic Systems Joint Project Office, volunteers to talk to students about STEM careers. Scott says students ask a lot of questions about what engineers do. “It was and always is a joy to see the children get excited about learning,” he commented. (U.S. Army TARDEC photo.)
41