STEM events for kids

[billvon 3,114]

I'm posting this to encourage the scientists, engineers and other technical people here to support STEM programs. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and refers to programs for K-12 kids to encourage them to pursue these fields of study.

We recently completed several events like this and they were very successful. We had a STEM day at our company that invited about 300 kids to come in and see some presentations in our lobby. About three weeks ago we had the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering, where we had about 10,000 kids and their families come down to Petco Park where about 200 companies had set up booths to showcase what each company was doing. We had displays on space exploration, stem cell research, biodiesel production, solar power production etc etc.

This morning I had a group of 30 elementary school kids come through our lab to look at our research into wireless power transmission. We showed them some of the more fun test instruments we use (like the thermal camera and the network analyzer) gave them some demos of phone and device charging and let them play with the robot we use for doing field-uniformity scans of wireless charging pads.

Some of the reasons we do this are sort of noble (we really do want the next generation of kids to be successful and well educated) but in a way it's also selfish. I'll be hiring some of these kids in ten years, and in thirty years they will be taking over from me as I retire - and they'll be coming up with the new insights, innovations and inventions that will keep both my company and the US as a whole successful.

So if you see a STEM event in your area, and you can help support it through giving tours, giving a talk at a local school, going to a fair, whatever - I highly encourage you to do so.