Funding, training and general support from the National Defense Education Program is allowing civilians who work in defense laboratories to play a key role in encouraging U.S. students to both pursue STEM studies and then take their place as the next generation of government researchers. With world-leading technological prowess key to our national defense, the responsibility is of critical importance because large numbers of the current generation of scientists and engineers are eligible to retire.

Read what other scientists and engineers are doing:

Ayax Ramirez, Engineer, SSC
Ayax Ramirez, an engineer with SPAWAR Systems Center (SSC), in San Diego, has worked for five years with Southwestern College students, a large number of them of Hispanic origin, and his program has mentored 26 students. The students in his program work at SPAWAR Systems Center and are paired with a professional for 10 weeks working in different physics and engineering projects such as laser annealing, antenna design and modeling, communications, etc. Several of these students have gone to prestigious universities and reported back on the valuable experience they received while working at SPAWAR. "We are making a difference and we are changing lives,"Ramirez says. "We are telling these kids it is possible to get a job in physics and engineering."

Aaron Kota, Engineer, NSWC Dahlgren
Aaron Kota, an engineer with the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren in Virginia, says the middle school students he works with are excited to work with naval scientists in the classroom. "I don't know if they completely grasp that what they are doing is math and science, but there is a genuine excitement over problem solving."

Jason Kremar, Engineer, NSWC Dahlgren
Engineer Jason Kremar helped start one of the first STEM Learning Module programs at Dahlgren and now recruits others from the labs to join. "Getting the (scientists and engineers) interested is pretty easy when they see that you will be playing with robots," Kremar says. "We are all kids at heart. The hard part is getting the balance between their other work and being a mentor. It is time consuming. You have to be adaptable to a teacher’s schedule and you have to adjust your schedule. Fortunately, we are getting a lot of support from management."

Kremar, who is serving as the NDEP STEM Learning Module DoD Coordinator at NSWC Dahlgren, Virginia, stresses that this is nothing like a more typical career day activity: "You are there to build a relationship with the kids. You get to know them by first name, know which ones like sports and know which ones are quiet. Your being there gives them an idea of what a scientist is like. We aren't people who walk around all day in lab coats."

Dr. Jim Rohr, Scientist, SSC
NDEP also encourages creativity. In beautiful San Diego, California, SSC Scientist Dr. Jim Rohr helped engineering students from the University of California San Diego organize an outreach field trip for 250 eighth grade students to the sprawling UCSD seaside campus. After tours of the labs and dorms, about 200 college students and defense volunteers set up a large auditorium with a variety of hands-on activities for the middle school students. One activity included tables covered with thousands of straws and some glue sticks. "Within 10 minutes they were building these fantastic bridges and towers," Rohr says. "It was amazing."