Women Building the US STEM Pipeline

In 2009, a collaborative engineering effort to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the United States (US) was initiated between women representing academia and industry. The industry contingent provided financial support and mentorship to the academic side that resulted in undergraduate engineering student teams designing and building educational products for use within primary and secondary education schools with the goal of encouraging younger students to pursue careers in STEM fields. Due to an aging workforce at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Department of Defense (DoD), and the US Aerospace Industry, as well as the need to improve diversity in STEM jobs, the need to grow the US STEM pipeline is critical. This national priority is informed by the fact that advancements and innovations in STEM fields are indicative of a growing and progressive society; for political, technological, and economic reasons, among others, it is imperative that the US maintain leadership in these arenas. Therefore, as a result of a shared interest in STEM outreach and education, the female led partnership focused upon the design and development of STEM tools that are subsequently donated to Kindergarten through 12 th grade (K-12) classrooms for continued use. STEM tools allow for tactile learning of subject matter often presented in a solely theoretical manner. The effort, referred to as the STEM initiative (STEMi), partners a female Capstone Design Class (CDC) Coordinator and Instructor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and representatives from Women in Defense (WID)-a non-profit national defense organization. STEMi originated within WID as a means to encourage and inspire K-12 students to take an interest in STEM subject matter with the goal of motivating them to pursue higher education in STEM areas and use their education in the US defense workforce to replace retiring technical experts. The UAH CDC focuses upon Product Realization, whereby Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) students, over the span of two semesters, design and develop a product that meets customer requirements. The STEMi effort enables the UAH students to create STEM tools under the guidance and support of representatives from WID acting as the project sponsor. The present paper will describe the STEM tool development process and assess the educational impact of the resulting STEM tools upon the K-12 students, as well as the impact of participating in a STEMi design project upon the UAH students.