New Leader for U.S. Army’s STEM programs

The U.S. Army recognizes the need for a diverse, agile and skilled talent pool, and how important STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) is to achieving that goal.

A new coalition to lead the Army Educational Outreach Program was announced in October 2015. Here are a couple of the reasons we're most excited to start working on this program.

1. Scale

Under a consortium of nine organizations, led by Battelle, the Army Educational Outreach Program reaches tens of thousands of students every year. That's a tremendous asset for doing what we do: turning the promise of STEM education in better learning for kids. By 2025, we aim to raise participation to more than 68,000 students.

2. Out-of-Classroom Time

At Battelle Education, we work closely with dozens of schools who have re-engineered the learning environment from top to bottom to better serve kids. It's powerful work, but there is incredible potential in the time outside of the classroom. These programs, which have to earn a child's free time, can be models for lighting a child's imagination.

3. Diversity

It's past time for STEM to get serious about diversity and, to their credit, many of these programs have participation for women and minorities built into the foundation of what they do.

4. Networks

Over the past 10 years, with support from the State of Ohio, State of Tennessee, and national foundations, we've built coalitions around STEM. Bolstering the portfolio of work under the Army's education work is no small lift, but it's one our networks can and should tackle.