The STEM Center of Excellence

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Logo for The STEM Center of Excellence

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The STEM Center's mission is to develop pathways from K-12 through The Citadel to STEM careers in collaboration with community and industry partners. We promote an interest and understanding of STEM by employing research-based best practices to ensure all students K-20 are prepared to succeed in the 21st century workforce.

School of Education, The Citadel
Established: 2009, re-established 2015

http://www.citadel.edu/root/stemcenter

Vision and Goals

The STEM Center at The Citadel works to establish STEM pathways. A collaborative effort of The Citadel's Zucker Family School of Education, School of Engineering and School of Science & Mathematics, The STEM Center delivers outreach initiatives to increase K-20 student interest, participation and opportunities in the STEM disciplines and develops innovative programming related to teacher preparation and professional development activities. The STEM Center also supports The Citadel's efforts to produce more graduates who are poised to become successful leaders in the STEM fields.

Center/Program Structure

The STEM Center has recently been restructured and is now a department within the Zucker Family School of Education with collaboration with the School of Engineering and School of Science and Mathematics. The STEM Center is run by a FTE who is also faculty in the School of Education. There is currently a part-time Assistant Director, part-time administrative assistant and a graduate assistant.

Description of Programming

Currently, the STEM Center hosts "Storm the Citadel" Engineering Week on campus that features several engineering competitions for engineers of all ages. As part of our K-12 Outreach program, we offer summer camps in robotics, forensics, and other STEM areas for local students. In collaboration with the Krause Center for Leadership, The STEM Center trains and empowers Citadel cadets to provide STEM-related service learning activities in local after-school programs. We are also working with area teachers through the STEM Ambassadors program and collaborate on a Noyce Scholarship grant with the School of Science and Mathematics.

Successes and Impacts

The STEM Center's highest impact activity is Storm The Citadel Eweek Competitions held every February. This competition features a Trebuchet competition sponsored by Google. In addition, The Citadel School of Engineering in partnership with The STEM Center also hosts robotic, bridge and water-bottle rocket competitions. The event brings over 1,000 people to campus each year. In addition to Google, the event has attracted the interest of other industry partners such as Boeing, Cummins, and SPAWAR who have participated in the competition. Boeing, last year's Barbarian Champion, recently formed a Trebuchet Society that hosted a community event to expand their efforts.

Elements Contributing to Success

Our STEM Center's success is the result of collaboration and cooperation of the The Citadel's campus. The School of Education, the School of Engineering, and the School of Science and Mathematics have worked together from the Deans to the faculty to the students to shape the future direction of the STEM Center.

Supplemental Materials