In March 2020 I was asked to be part of the IEEE TryEngineering STEM Portal Initiative by Jamie Moesch, Managing Director, Education Activities and Burt Dicht, Director, Student and Academic Education Programs. The opportunity to share some of our R5 Houston Section STEM initiative like Teachers In-Service Program (TISP) facilitated by Freddie Wong and learning from others was a unique opportunity to share Best Practices when it comes to STEM opportunities.

The challenge has been for IEEE volunteers is helping to spark excitement about engineering through pre-university STEM education programs. Unfortunately,  the efforts  are fragmented through the various programs being offered by Societies, Sections and others. We do not have a central system to collectively share what is being done across IEEE.  There is no central place for volunteers to share their effective  programs with each other, no central resources that volunteers can draw  from when developing local STEM programs and no data collection system  to assess impact.

  Future View of IEEE TryEngineering STEM Portal

Above is the result of the portal and those collaboration efforts. The mission of the committee was to provide opportunities and resources to volunteers to generate STEM activities that impact as many students as possible. The objectives were:

• Develop a centralized volunteer resource for all IEEE pre-university STEM programs (The Volunteer STEM Portal)
• Encourage and facilitate the expansion of pre-university STEM programs conducted by IEEE operating units
• Increase volunteer engagement in Pre-University STEM activities.
• Collect metrics and assess the impact of the programs

It’s been an honor to serve and be part of such important initiative serving the next generation of future leaders.

Article submitted by: Christopher Sanderson, SMIEEE, IEEE R5 South Area Chair,  IEEE-USA Career & Professional Development Committee,  Houston Section Chair, IEEE Admission and Advancement Committee, R5 Diversity and Inclusion Committee, IEEE TryEngineering Volunteer STEM Portal Initiative, IEEE-HKN Governor, Region 5-6 Candidate 2021-2023