STEM is taking off at Aerospace! In conjunction with Aerospace’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) group, employee volunteers located at Aerospace’s Albuquerque office hosted 16 educators from the local area in their first STEM Teacher Workshop on June 28. The participating teachers taught grade levels ranging from elementary through high school and included STEM outreach and science teachers.

With encouragement from upper management, Albuquerque employee volunteers are very active in their community in CSR STEM-related activities. What motivates many of them to give back is that they are also parents. In addition, a large percentage of the employees are women and minorities who want to show the next generation the possibilities of working in a STEM field.

Employee Volunteers Discuss CubeSats, Robotics and Space Debris

During the STEM Teacher Workshop, Aerospace employee volunteers showcased some of their work and interacted with teachers to provide resources to help in promoting STEM in the K-12 arena.  Leading the STEM charge in Albuquerque was project engineer Sam Sims who recruited local employee volunteers to speak about the interesting projects they are currently working on. She also worked to promote the event with local educators.  Sims and her fellow project engineers led demos and lectures on CubeSats, robotics, and space debris. 

Gayla Walden, principal director for the Space Innovation Directorate, kicked the event off with an introduction to the small but powerhouse Aerospace Albuquerque Office.  Sims, along with Sabrina Herrin and Francisco Roybal, talked about CubeSats; what they are, what they are used for, and how schools are using them as educational tools.  Tony Porzio, an avid electronics hobbyist, gave the teachers a tutorial on how to inexpensively develop a robotics program/club at their school.  Greg Henning described mission orbits and orbit design and lastly, Marlon Sorge covered the topic of space debris. He described how talking to kids about protecting the space environment is just like teaching them to care for Earth’s environment.

Aerospace’s STEM coordinator, Monica Maynard then shared a Mars lesson that the teachers could use with their students. The lesson incorporated a team-building component in which everyone worked in groups to create a cost-effective, high-return mission to the red planet.

Other Space Jobs Besides Being an Astronaut

At the end of day, the educators agreed the workshop was beneficial. One elementary school teacher hopes to transfer what she learned and talk to her students about “other jobs in space than being an astronaut.”  A middle school teacher said she feels she now has “more real-life applications for the science concepts” she teaches.  All participants expressed interest in continuing to work with Aerospace so systems director Riaz Musani discussed how Aerospace employees could further engage with their students by participating at their schools’ science events.

“It was a lot of fun and interesting to hear back from the teachers as to their STEM needs,” Sims said.  Project engineer Sabrina Herrin added, “I was so pleased to see how engaged the teachers were and we left the event energized and inspired, with a better understanding of how Aerospace can better help our community.”