Work in progress — United States Coast Guard Academy Robotics on Water — New program for STEM & diversity outreach

A new robotics one-day program, Coast Guard Academy Robotics On Water (CGAROW), was developed at the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) as an outreach tool to encourage high school student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program involves having students work in teams to build a robotic water craft that is used in a competition simulating several Coast Guard mission oriented tasks. Pilot implementations were done at several high schools in Puerto Rico and in the United States. Work is still ongoing in revising the program; however, the overall feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. The authors present details of the development and pilot implementation of the CGAROW program. This program has already shown potential as an effective STEM outreach tool.