Chapter Youth Outreach Report: 2020 Science Fairs
Starting the year off, the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter had several members participating in a range of events for encouraging youth in STEM.
FIRST Lego League State Championships.
In February, INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter member Deborah Harris (CSEP) assisted at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Lego League (FLL) State Championships. FFL is a guided, global robotics competition with theme-based engineering challenges engaging youth aging of 9 to 16. Since 2003, the FLL Maryland State Championships have been held at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Over the previous five years, Deborah has volunteering as a Lead Score Keeper at the Robot Games competitions. This year, Deborah extended herself taking on positions of Tournament Director at the Prince Georges Community College Qualifiers and also a position as a coordinator for the UMBC FLL Planning Committee for the State Championship competition.
Thanks to Deborah's and her FLL involvement, more than 300 volunteers were recruited to including judges, judge assistants, referrers, score keepers, judging guides, pit teams, and event set-up and tear-down teams." Deborah said that the advanced planning by the FLL Committee coupled to the excellent teamwork spirit of the many volunteers resulted in this year's climactic events coming off as being smoothly executed.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools Science and Engineering Expo.
Jim Campbell (ASEP), Jim DeCamp (ASEP), Clinton Hilliard (CSEP), and Danny Yue entering the projects arena at the AACPS STEM Expo.
This March, more Chesapeake Chapter members volunteered to be special award judges for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Science and Engineering Expo. Our INCOSE team of volunteers was comprised of four seasoned members: Clinton Hilliard (CSEP), Jim Campbell (ASEP), Jim DeCamp (ASEP), and Danny Yue.
Throughout these events, members had the opportunity to survey hundreds of projects spanning academic levels from 6th through 12th grades. As it was physically impossible for our judges to cover the entire field of contestants, efforts focused on the senior-level projects triaged to be most appropriate to our selection criteria. This year, the chapter decided to change up its award format. Instead of offering first through third prizes, the chapter offered just a single awarded prize. The idea being we would provide a sort of INCOSE “Nobel Prize – like award” for Youth in STEM. This award would go to the students deemed as being most in-line with the requisites of applying good systems engineering practices. In actuality, our team of judges reached a split decision at the fair, so we decided to offer this award as a shared prize between two outstanding students.
The Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) Science and Engineering Expo Awards went to:
Rex McAllister, Landing a VTOL Rocket System.
The student’s entry was a small fan-propelled rocket with movable fins to help guide it to land vertically. He used 3D printing to create a launch pad and other components, electrical engineering, software programming, and hardware disciplines to create his project.
Charles Butler, Rush Hour.
The student recognized a traffic back-up problem during student dismissal at his previous elementary school. Using software and data he collected, he created models and ran simulations to devise a potential solution to improve traffic flow. Throughout the process, he engaged with a stakeholder (the school’s principal), who wants to implement the solution of a pull-off curb which he recommended.
Provided to each awardee was a framed INCOSE Young Engineer’s Prize certificate, an official INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter coin, a letter of congratulations signed by our esteemed chapter president, and a monetary award of $200. The Chesapeake Chapter, in addition, provided another $500 in direct sponsorship to the AACPS event’s program office.
Unfortunately, the awards celebration, to be held later in that week, had to be canceled by the County School Board over concerns for public safety and in response to corona virus mitigation efforts announced by the state and federal governments. As such, INCOSE awards had to be delivered to the School Board for their final delivery to the students. In addition, while the Chapter had prepared for its attendance at the upcoming Baltimore County STEM fair in late March, Baltimore County Public School (BCPS) Board announced cancellation as well. Despite the BCPS cancelation, the chapter stayed resolved in providing $500 to supporting the Fair’s in its shared mission with INCOSE and promoting of STEM to youth.
Looking to the rest of 2020, the Chesapeake Chapter’s Youth Stem Outreach (YSO) Committee is excited to continue its youth awards and event participations. The committee is currently building an informational booth/display to be used at future YSO events. This will be a staging station for engaging with young folks on systems engineering and explaining to them how they might look to pursue careers in this field.
For anyone interested in helping the chapter with its youth outreach mission, while also earning PDUs, we welcome you joining us on the committee by contacting STEM@INCOSE-CC.org.