Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division has renewed its STEM Charter which aims to support a pipeline of young talent to join the naval engineering workforce. An article in the Department of Defense internal news roundup explains NSWCPD’s current outreach efforts and highlights several partnerships, including the Philadelphia Robotics Coalition.
Since 2019, the partnership between the Philadelphia Robotics Coalition and NSWCPD has matched Navy scientists and engineers with student robotics teams at over 20 Philadelphia schools. This mentorship is valuable for the students who get to build relationships with professional engineers and envision future careers for themselves.
The program is valuable for the mentors as well, who get to meet colleagues from other departments at NSWCPD, and learn project management and communication skills that they can bring back to their work at NSWCPD.
Beyond team mentorship, NSWCPD provides summer internships for high school and college students. And new for summer 2021, the NEWT Program (Naval Education Workforce Training) will give four School District of Philadelphia high school teachers an intensive R&D experience.