STLE stands up for STEM
Dr. Ali Erdemir | TLT President's Report September 2016
A team of volunteers introduced 51 Las Vegas high school students to the world of tribology.
Professor Ashlie Martini demonstrates an experiment in friction for Las Vegas high school students attending the 2016 STLE STEM Camp.
FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS STLE has hosted STEM camps as part of its annual meetings. For this year’s camp, May 16 in Las Vegas, we were very privileged to have 51 students from the Mojave High School. STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math, is a nationwide educational effort to raise next-generation professionals for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.
The fact that we live in a highly mobile, technology-savvy digital world makes clear the importance of STEM education. Together with its many sections, STLE is doing its part to support STEM through camps, donations and scholarships. STEM has become an integral part of our modern lifestyle and all that goes on around us. Can we imagine a life without smartphones, computers, HDTVs and high-speed trains, planes and automobiles?
The short answer is no. There is a lot of deep-thinking math and engineering principles involved in every one of these technological marvels, so the value of STEM is unquestionable as it literally regulates everything that goes around us and impacts every aspect of our lives. Smooth, safe and long-lasting operations of many of those technological marvels are in part due to advanced tribological principles that were employed during their productions. Many moving parts in complex mechanical systems also rely on advanced materials, coatings and lubricants to execute their specific functions.
As the Mojave STEM students entered the convention center at this year’s camp, they were warmly greeted by the smiling faces of our headquarters staff and many volunteers. Students wore their conventional attire but were given a nice T-shirt with the STLE logo on the front and an “I Love Tribology” sign on the back. The shirts were a big hit as almost all of the students wore them.
Then all of a sudden you were among a room full of curious young tribologists proactively participating in 11 different experiments run by our many academic and industrial volunteers. Running the experiments and seeing the end results instantly gave the students a real sense of what tribology is all about and why it is so important for so many things that we do or encounter in our daily lives. These kids were really smart in grasping the logic behind each experiment and asking many relevant questions.
One of the major highlights of this year’s STEM camp was a lunch session with retired U.S. Navy Captain Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, who shared her experiences as a NASA astronaut. Captain Piper is one of our STEM enthusiasts who graciously travelled a long way to join us at this year’s camp.
After the STEM camp, students were asked to express their favorite memory and the coolest thing they had learned in words and in drawings. There were so many of them, but this one summarizes in a nutshell the reflections that these kids conveyed: “I’ve learned that lubrication is in my life more than I anticipated. My favorite memory is when the astronaut ate lunch with us. She explained a lot during lunch and her speech. She is an amazing and inspirational woman.”
STLE thanks Captain Piper and Past President Maureen Hunter, who has graciously assumed the position of STLE STEM Ambassador this year to make future STEM camps even more successful and enjoyable. Maureen has been an advocate for STEM activities for a long time and we are honored to have her take on this leadership role. We also thank ExxonMobil Corp. for its generous financial support for our STEM educational and scholarship programs.
Finally, thanks to the real unsung heroes of this year’s STEM camp—the many volunteers who set up and ran the experiments with the students.
Ali Erdemir is a Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill. You can reach him at erdemir@anl.gov.