The purpose is to expand AFCEA support of school activities in its Adopt A School program. with one important objective: spending the minimum amount of resources to reach the maximum audience participation. This year AFCEA is partnering with Robinson Middle School (RMS) by providing a grant to support robotic activities.Steve Snyder is the RMS teacher supporting 67 students in the Tech Ed program including robotics.. RMS is at its maximum capacity to admit students into the Tech Ed program. Edmund Moore (BS Naval Engineering, 1970, US Naval Academy, and MS Computer Science, Naval Post Graduate School, 1975) represents AFCEA, with assistance from Steve Chang, are supporting RMS. RMS won the grant to purchase additional Mindstorm EV3 robotic kits. Snyder first suggested that the volunteers could help by teaching logic and computer programming embedded in a EV3 robot.Further, the new teaching approach allows students with a drawing of the robot components, and they must assemble the robot by trial and error using a three member team approach. Students mainly learn by having continuous discussions with other team members, and with occasional input from faculty. The volunteers suggest that during an unspecified transition period, the volunteers can pay closer individual attention, and provide more human interaction to those students with such needs, therefore make learning robotics a more enjoyable, fun activity. Roles of the AFCEA volunteers is still under discussion with Snyder, but all parties agree that the volunteers will help with whatever is needed to support the RMS new team approach.See December 17, 2015 post for additional information.

First year experimentation with STEM pilot activities at a Virginia Fairfax County Junior high school located in the Washington, DC suburb. The aim is to expose students in multiple disciplines, such as building model bridges to test structural integrity, and building closed electrical circuit to test the conductivity of various metals. The Armed Forces Communication Electronics Association (AFCEA NOVA) initiated the cooperation with Lake Braddock Middle School (LBMS), and Robinson High School. Serve as designated Point of Contact between AFCEA and LBMS, and volunteer recruiter. Ms. Tammy Kraft, Math department co-chair, sets the direction to implement STEM at LBMS.Duties Include supporting the weekly construction and demonstration of STEM club experiments using the trial and error engineering principles. Students likely have not formed their opinion in selecting a career during junior high school years, and are open to becoming a STEM professional.Interactions with the 18 self-selected students are enlightening, heart-warming. Questions are refreshing at high energy level.Another duty is to facilitate a 2-day Virginia Air and Space Center Flights exhibit at LBMS for all 1400 seventh and eighth grade students on April 24-25, 2015. AFCEA provides financial support.The labor comes from dedicated volunteers with different disciplines. The likely next year experimentation will include training students on robotics. STEM based educational activities in the classroom involves using a STEM activity to introduce or ground a lesson. This activity gives students a real world application of the concept they will or have learned. Volunteers will learn the urgent and important responsibilities of convincing the next generation to modify their collective perception of STEM, possibly viewed as boring or difficult. Volunteers will further encourage students to excel under time constraint, so that once again the students will lead the world in advancing STEM knowledge.

Employed in the USEPA Superfund remedial program at Headquarters for 23 years to support EPA cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the US.

Served as a contractor to support the USEPA Superfund hazardous waste sites cleanup program.