Developing a Model for Increasing Leadership and Diversity in STEM through Mobile STEM Workshops, Collaboration, and Community Involvement

The U.S. Military Academy (USMA) and U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory, the Army's corporate research laboratory (ARL), have collaboratively developed a model to enable educationally enriching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workshops, held at various locations across the nation. Workshops, led by West Point faculty and cadets, provide hands-on STEM experiences, such as robotics, bridge design, wind energy, and circuit design, to underserved and underrepresented middle and high school students. Concurrently, ARL-led workshops engage parents, educators, government and industry partners, and other key stakeholders on ways to connect the school curriculum to real-life experiences and create viable resources to encourage students to participate in multi-level STEM programs. We discuss the model that has evolved from our outreach and its impact.