1. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING,
AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) INITIATIVE
Deborah Fraley
STEM Director, WID TVC
and
Business Development Manager
Quantum Research International, Inc.
x 258
cell
fax

2. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
The Tennessee Valley Chapter (TVC) of Women in Defense (WID) is taking an active role in supporting educational needs for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Initiative that encourages young people to pursue careers in national defense and national security to eventually replace our aging workforce.  WID TVC support is focused on securing financial backing from similar professional organizations, defense contractors, and local community organizations that will fund the creation of STEM educational tools for use in elementary, middle school and high school classrooms in the Tennessee Valley area. 

3. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
Our STEM Initiative started in 2009 with the realization that our aging technical workforce in the Huntsville area (average age 57), both Government and industry employees, did not have a large number of young people trained in technical fields who were up and coming to eventually provide replacement capabilities when the senior level staff retire.
We decided to take on the mission of adding a new element to the already ongoing STEM activities in the TN Valley area by providing hands-on tools to science teachers in the local schools that could be used to demonstrate scientific and mathematical principles to the students, supplementing lectures and standard teaching methods with tools that provide an element of participative fun to the students’ learning process.

4. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
We work with the Huntsville Space and Missile Defense Working Group (part of the local National Defense Industrial Association chapter) to obtain the majority of our funding ($5K per year) that goes toward creation of the STEM tools that are donated to local schools. We report back to the SMD Working Group annually on the products developed with this funding and receive a recurring line item in their annual budget.
We partner with the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to get the STEM tools designed and built for the participating schools through selection of engineering student teams in the senior level engineering capstone design classes that take on our projects by choice from a list of available projects.

5. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
Typical Process/Schedule for a STEM Tool over two semesters:
WID STEM Director coordinates between “customer” school and UAH student design team to determine requirements for tool and assist with customer outreach activities that create stakeholders and teach engineering students about customer interface
First Semester activities include final resolution of requirements, initial system architecture concept, patent searches, functional and safety evaluations, concept of operations, preliminary functional baseline, risk assessment and issue mitigations, structural analysis, potential manufacturing techniques, test planning, cost analysis, and two formal reviews, culminating in a preliminary design review
Second Semester activities include finalization of all elements from the first semester that produces a final design, build and test of the tool, two formal reviews, and presentation of the completed tool to the students at the customer school
An additional element to this process includes mentoring of the engineering student design teams by our STEM Director who possesses 38 years of engineering experience as a defense contractor

6. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
We have presented 22 STEM tools to local schools in the TN Valley area and to the Sci-Quest Hands-On Science Center over the course of our program, including:
Fluid Flow Demonstrator
Wimshurst Machine
Tabletop Wind Tunnel for aircraft and similar unit for automobiles
Learning Stations – reconfigurable stations equipped with computer systems for research
Earthquake Simulator
Pulley System of Systems Demonstrator
Ballistic Pendulum
Trebuchet Catapult
Solar System Model
CO2 Race Car Launch System
Tabletop Catapult
Solar Roller Coaster
Solar Race Cars
Energy Racers
Hybrid Engine
Ping Pong Ball Shooting Gallery
Water Distillation Unit
Marble Roller Coaster Race Tracks Station
Mobile Experimentation Station
Brain Models Illustrating Dyslexia
Water Systems Table

7. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS PULLEY SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDENCE MIDDLE SCHOOL

8. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS EARTHQUAKE SIMULATOR FOR PROVIDENCE MIDDLE SCHOOL

9. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS LEARNING STATION FOR MT CARMEL ELEMENTARY

10. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS TABLETOP CATAPULT FOR WILLIAMS MIDDLE SCHOOL

11. WOMEN IN DEFENSE – TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS WATER DISTILLATION UNIT FOR DISCOVERY MIDDLE SCHOOL

12. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO STUDENT MUSEUMS SOLAR ROLLER COASTER FOR SCI-QUEST

13. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO STUDENT MUSEUMS SOLAR RACER FOR SCI-QUEST

14. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO STUDENT MUSEUMS PING PONG BALL SHOOTING GALLERY FOR SCI-QUEST

15. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS MARBLE ROLLER COASTERS FOR MT CARMEL ELEMENTARY

16. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO STUDENT MUSEUMS MOBILE EXPERIMENT CART FOR SCI-QUEST

17. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS BRAIN MODELS FOR DYSLEXIA CONDITION AND EDUCATION

18. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS TABLETOP WIND TUNNEL FOR MILL CREEK ELEMENTARY

19. WOMEN IN DEFENSE - TVC TOOLS DELIVERED TO AREA SCHOOLS WATER SYSTEMS TABLE FOR WALNUT GROVE ELEMENTARY

20. WOMEN IN DEFENSE TENNESSEE VALLEY CHAPTER STEM MISSION
In 2017 we have these projects planned thus far:
Completion of Portable Roller Coaster System for Harvest Elementary School (first semester work has been done)
Earthquake Simulator for Horizon Elementary
Portable Roller Coaster System for Mt Carmel Elementary