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Board 150: AFRL Career STREAM Implementation at NMT (Work in Progress)

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Poster Session

Tagged Division

Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42486

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42486

Download Count

139

Paper Authors

biography

Destiny J. Crawford New Mexico Tech Mechanical Engineering Department

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Destiny Crawford is a current graduate student at New Mexico Tech studying Chemical Engineering for a Master's of Engineering degree. She was a pathways mentor during the Summer 2022 AFRL Career STREAM apprenticeship program in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

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biography

Jett C. Emms New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

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Jett Emms is a current Graduate student at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro New Mexico working towards a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a dissertation in intelligent energetic systems centered around shock physics. Jett has been working on the NMT Robotic Combat STEM Outreach team since early 2020 and has helped the program grow.

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biography

Raechelle Sandoval

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Raechelle Sandoval is a graduate student at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, working on a PhD in Intelligent and Energetic Systems. She has been a teachers assistant for the Intro to Mechanical Engineering course for three years.

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biography

Curtis John O'Malley New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

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Assistant Prof at NM Tech since 2016. Teach junior/senior design clinic as well as 1st semester introduction to mechanical engineering design. As part of these courses I work closely with national labs and industry to maintain course projects with real

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Abstract

The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to provide a STEM experience for late-year high school students. This paper will evaluate the program in terms of implementation, results of apprentice growth, and lessons learned. The AFRL NM Career STREAM program aims to provide an industrial environment on a college campus, demonstrating what a career would be like, to apprentices coming from rural New Mexico and other underserved groups. The paid apprenticeship allows students to conduct research in various STEM related topics on a college campus under the mentorship of college students. The program is geared towards underserved and underrepresented groups that may have fewer science and engineering opportunities in their area. Every college campus has mentors that oversee the apprentices’ day to day progress on a STEM related research project developed by the mentors. The program sought to train the mentors to run a research project by identifying a topic, setting the parameters, and managing the project. The NMT campus mentors focused on a research topic related to robotics. These mentors had four weeks before the apprentices came onto the campus to plan how to assist the apprentices in finishing a college level project. Apprentices were challenged to work in two teams of six to seven to design and code an autonomous robot that mapped a given area (Team 1) and retrieve a payload in said area (Team 2). The program lasted a total of six weeks where the teams learned and implemented skills needed to complete the above challenges. Within each week, a pathways mentor would coordinate a presentation on how to manage in a professional environment. The pathways mentor also organized guest speakers to present on topics related to their field. The apprentices filled out pre and post surveys for AFRL to keep track of the performance of the program. Apprentices showed growth in skill, self efficacy, and a sense of belonging in STEM.

Crawford, D. J., & Emms, J. C., & Sandoval, R., & O'Malley, C. J. (2023, June), Board 150: AFRL Career STREAM Implementation at NMT (Work in Progress) Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42486

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