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Army Educational Awareness Program

Courtesy of AEOP

Last summer, faculty and staff at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH), part of the University of Alabama system, again partnered with the Army Educational Outreach (AEOP ) to provide historically underrepresented students with hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) experience.

AEOP’s mission is to sponsor students and teachers with the opportunity to experience STEM programs and attract future STEM talent to Department of Defense (DoD) careers. The primary goal is to develop a diverse and highly skilled technical resource pool to strengthen the military, DoD, and national workforce in support of the Defense Industry Base (DIB).

“We received 17-20 applications,” says Dr Tanya Sysoeva, one of the UAH organizers of the event. “We spent a fair amount of time interviewing the candidates who we felt would benefit the most from the program. “

The link to AEOP was established in collaboration with the UAH’s Undergraduate Research or Creative Experience (RCEU) program, which aims to provide research experiences for undergraduates across all fields of study by promoting cooperation between students and researchers in a creative or university project. This AEOP-funded learning program was supervised by Dr Bernhard Vogler, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, for seven years.

An additional program offering similar opportunities, the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), is funded by the National Science Foundation and supervised on the UAH campus by Dr. Sharifa Love-Rutledge with assistance from Christopher Smith, the Diversity Initiatives Coordinator in the UAH’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI). Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, no student was able to participate in the high school research component of LSAMP this year.

“The pandemic has affected the pool of applicants for both programs,” says Smith. “Compared to AEOP, LSAMP has stricter eligibility conditions for participants. However, the goals of each program are the same, and in many cases, students work side by side to conduct research.

During AEOP-funded sessions, students learn directly under the guidance of a professional scientist or engineer serving as a mentor to conduct hands-on research at a state-of-the-art facility.

The 2021 program events were hosted by Dr Vogler and Dr Love-Rutledge with the Department of Chemistry; Dr Sysoeva from the Department of Biological Sciences; Dr Aubrey Beal of the Department of Electrical Engineering; and Christopher Smith (ODEI).

“It was my first year of participating in this awareness program! Said Dr Sysoeva. “This year UAH had two principal investigators who won this opportunity to host high school students, Dr Vogler and me. We have managed to recruit a few of our colleagues to collaborate and accommodate more students than we could otherwise. Dr. Vogler has a lot of experience with this program. I certainly learned a lot from him, and it was so much easier to have examples from previous years to guide the development of the program in 2021. I was delighted to apply and receive the award for hosting AEOP students.

During a summer rich in student research programs, UAH was able to offer AEOP high school students the opportunity to work as a team with students from UAH programs such as RCEU, LSAMP, l ‘Association of minority graduate students and the Association of graduate students in life sciences during lunches. and through an informal meeting at the biology department, organized by Dr Joseph Ng.

The chemistry sessions were led by Dr Vogler and Dr Love-Rutledge and included students Elizabeth Sierzego, Kamyah Love and Sydney Hur. The biology sessions were guided by Dr Zachary Culumber and Dr Sysoeva and included students Medha Rudraraju, Victor Dunagan and Vaishali Ojha. A wide range of events and topics were covered, including:

  • A session on library resources and training provided by Michael Manasco, pedagogical coordinator and distance librarian / teacher at the M. Louis Salmon library.
  • A tour of the Hudson Alpha Institute of Biotechnology led by Michele Morris, Workforce Development Manager and Director of BioTrain Internships at Hudson Alpha.
  • A visit to the Alabama Supercomputer Center, provided by Dr. David Young and colleagues.
  • A demonstration of the UAH Severe Weather Institute – Radar & Lightning Laboratories (SWIRRL), a tour of the UAH Propulsion Research Center (PRC), the driving simulator and the fish research facility of the Culumber laboratory of the Department of Biology of the UAH.
  • A poster session presenting the research projects carried out by AEOP apprentices over five weeks.
  • Mentoring lunches with LSAMP undergraduates and members of the Minority Graduate Student Association (MGSA).
  • Remote session with BASF employees to discuss potential career options in the chemical industry.

“UAH RCEU undergraduates in biology and chemistry interacted closely with AEOP high school students,” says Dr Sysoeva. “It seemed like a good way for high school students to learn more about the college experience and revisit their pre-application plans. We also had a few visits and meetings with students from both programs, and it was nice to see the interactions and exchanges.

The need for STEM literacy – the ability to understand and apply concepts from science, technology, engineering, and math to solve America’s most complex technical problems is growing exponentially. For more than 50 years, the military has supported a wide range of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational opportunities to meet an ever-growing need for highly skilled and literate STEM technicians and skilled workers in STEM. advanced manufacturing, logistics, management and other technology-oriented fields.

The programs lasted for five weeks, starting in June, with students spending every weekday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. immersed in hands-on research.

“There have been a few virtual meetings due to COVID-19 restrictions from some local employers,” notes Smith. “However, there were face-to-face meetings and even off-campus field trips.”

“Some activities, such as a visit to the local BASF factory, a production facility for catalysts used in cars, could not take place,” says Dr Vogler. “But we have to do cybersecurity instead.”

In addition, each student earns an education allowance in recognition of their work. “The students receive, in my opinion, a very generous stipend,” says Dr. Vogler. “It is paid to them directly. “

Dr Sysoeva agrees. “The amount of the grant to AEOP depends on the length of the program and is very generous and similar to the undergraduate research grant in prestigious programs like UAH RCEU.”

Work with the students was carried out in the Materials Science Building (MSB), the Shelby Center and the Department of Electrical Engineering (ECC).

Careers in STEM are expected to continue to grow at a faster pace as non-STEM careers over the next decade, and the associated demand for a talented and skilled STEM workforce will only increase in the years to come.



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