AFRL celebrates STEM year round

  • Published
  • By Josh Aycock
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Air Force Research Laboratory sponsored Dayton Regional STEM Center hosted a volunteer recognition banquet at the Hope Hotel Conference Center here May 12 in recognition of National Lab Day.

The center used the event to recognize over 100 STEM Fellows. The Fellows are volunteers who help develop curriculum in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics that is used by 65 school districts and has an impact on over 25,000 students.

Forty three engineers and scientists from AFRL were recognized for their contributions.

"We have just seen an explosion in how many of our people want to volunteer and help keep children engaged," said Ricardo Negron, chief of the domestic partnering branch at AFRL.

The STEM Center also used the event to launch their new website, www.daytonregionalstemcenter.org, which aims to foster the collaboration of educators, industry and government officials worldwide.

"This is going to help the center reach out to so many more educators and show them that learning these disciplines can be fun," said Mr. Negron. "This gives everyone a chance to be involved, see what's already been done and build upon it."

National Lab Day is a nationwide initiative to build support for ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students and educators. The day celebrates efforts to bring discovery-based science experiences to students in grades K-12.

"Every day is National Lab Day at AFRL," said Joe Sciabica, executive director of AFRL. "The thing that I think has the biggest impact to our nation's future is through our work in education outreach efforts."

AFRL 2009 STEM outreach at a glance

The volunteers were recognized at the banquet for their efforts at the STEM center, but AFRL's STEM outreach spans from coast-to-coast. Some of the efforts from 2009 are:

· AFRL's La Luz Academy at Kirtland Air Force Base sponsored a "Mars Missions Flight" which brought 1,200 5th grade students from around New Mexico together with AFRL scientists and engineers, or S&E's, to plan and build a sustainable Mar's colony.

· The Information Directorate held a Challenge Competition for high school students at the Griffiss Institute in Rome, NY. Thirteen STEM high school teams convened with their teachers and Lab scientist to provide a solution to a hard national cyber problem proposed by the Chief Scientist of the laboratory. The team winners were presented with summer internships at the Information Directorate.

· AFRL secured funding for the Dayton Regional STEM Center, which is one of six national centers, to continue training and supporting educators, designing STEM curriculum, training school leaders at the district and building level, and supporting schools and program models committed to STEM teaching and learning.

· Acted as a technology anchor for the Dayton Regional STEM School for the first class of 98 9th graders. The school aims to evolve to provide education for grades 6 through 12.

· Tec^Edge bought together over 60 students to work alongside AFRL S&E's, industry, and academia within its Discovery Lab to provide projects of value to AFRL and the region. Under their Summer-at-the-Edge initiative, one of the more notable student projects was VIASAR-CAM that produced an innovative camera system that the Navy is planning to evaluate this year for transition to the Marines in Afghanistan.

· Wizards of Wright! volunteers provided free, curriculum based hands-on science and math demos at local schools. Subjects included: Electricity and Magnetism, Weather, Lasers and Optics, Rocketry, Scientific Method, Math Madness, Aeronautics, Chemistry, Bubbleology and more. The WOW! volunteers averaged 30 demos a month throughout the year.

· Through the WPAFB education outreach office, volunteers provided over $7.6 million in free programs to local schools.


"This list just scratches the surface of what we're doing in Dayton and what we're doing across the U.S. in AFRL," said Mr. Sciabica. "Giving kids a moment of science in their lives, planting a seed, giving them the 'a-ha moment' where it suddenly clicks is what makes all our efforts worthwhile."