MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

January 2012 - Volume V Issue IV

aerospace ∙ advanced materials ∙ shipbuilding ∙ geospatial ∙ marine science

Special Report: Stemming Inside this Issue: the Losses Stemming the Losses 1 STEM Education 2-4 With multiple studies STEM Training 5-6 pointing to the loss of 7-8 Stennis Space Center STEM-trained workers, a combination of efforts by Mississippi The Alliance is an independent partnership educators and federal programs may give serving the three Mississippi the state a chance to single itself out counties nearest the Gulf of Mexico. answering the call... Hancock County Development Commission Rhonda Crawford is a teacher at And it’s not just a matter of producing Hattiesburg’s Oak Grove High School, and more scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Harrison County her students are 9th graders. While the work In the highly competitive global economy, Development Commission of all teachers is valuable, she’s in a field businesses across the board need workers many feel is particularly important in a comfortable with the activities associated Jackson County global economy. with STEM. Economic Development She’s a STEM teacher, shorthand for But several educators see the national Foundation science, technology, education and math. problem as an opportunity for Mississippi Crawford and peers like Andy Gunkel and to single itself out. A combination of efforts Mississippi Power Company David Fava in Gulfport and Rick Saucier in on the state and local level, along with the Hancock County, are trying to address what intense interest and creative outreaches of multiple studies have indicated is a serious federal agencies operating in the region, is problem. The United States is falling further reaching hundreds of teachers and many behind(Growing in graduating Footprint students continued, with page degrees2) times more students, and indications are the in the science and technology fields, and numbers are growing. And with the state it’s particularly acute with the retirement of ranked 20th in STEM job growth, the need Copyright 2011-2012, Alliance Insight baby boomers. is clearly there. ——————————— education ———————————— Mississippi Answering STEM Education Call

• U.S. slipping against global competitors • Mississippi 20th in STEM job growth • Number of Mississippi STEM students rising

In September 2011, the Defense Department released to Congress its annual report on the nation’s industrial capabilities, which for DoD is a matter of national security. The reported was grim. The science, technology, engineering and math workforce is beginning to retire, and replacing those workers “could be challenging due to declining Personnel aboard the NOAA ship Thomas Jefferson prepare to launch a Naval Oceanographic Office glider as interest in STEM as a career field, part of a Gulf of Mexico Loop Current research cruise in May 2010. The Navy, NOAA, NASA and other federal fewer STEM college graduates, and agencies are concerned about having enough STEM workers in the future. Photo courtesy of NOAA poor math and science proficiency in secondary education,” it said. encouraging more students to go into STEM fields, but the Specialized skills, like protecting military satellite groundwork has to be done early. communications and intelligence payloads, “make the “Part of having more students prepared to go to college issue of a declining STEM workforce even more of a is starting early,” Bounds said. “Eighty percent of brain concern for the military space industrial base.” If lost, it development occurs in first four years of life. The first day would be costly and time consuming to rebuild. of college starts in preschool.” DoD was not the first to raise the alarm. In 2005 the National Academies’ report “Rising Above the Gathering Mississippi Efforts Storm” warned that if steps aren’t taken to improve For Mississippi, the need for STEM workers is becoming investments in science and technology, the United States clear. A U.S. Chamber of Commerce study, “Enterprising would continue to slip against global competition. Five States 2011,” ranks the state 20th in science, technology, years later, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: engineering and math job growth. Some educators see Rapidly Approaching Category 5,” found the nation the national problem as an opportunity for Mississippi. A slipped further. combination of state and local programs, along with the The United States is 48th in quality of mathematics and interest of federal agencies, could single out the state. science education, 27th among developed nations in the Mississippi has had an increase in the number of STEM proportion of college students receiving undergraduate students over the past few years. In 2006-07 there were 4,856, degrees in science or engineering, 20th in high school and the next year there were 5,075. In 2008-09 the number of completion rate and 16th in college completion rate among students reached 5,144, and the next year it went all the way industrialized nations. up to 5,712. The problem has bothered Dr. Hank M. Bounds, “Obviously, we are seeing a big increase in the number Mississippi’s commissioner of higher education, for a long of students enrolled in STEM classes,” said Mike Mulvihill, time. He oversees the state’s public four-year university bureau director, Office of Career and Technical Education, system, and for four years was state superintendent of Mississippi Department of Education education. The state has a program designed for 9th grade students “It’s incredibly important that we produce more STEM called the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics graduates,” he told the Sun Herald in October 2011. Applications, a program that prepares students to engage Universities are working on retention, recruiting and (STEM Education continued, page 3)

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 2 STEM Education (continued from page 2) in future academic and vocational courses of study in high school, community college and universities. Students in STEM Applications complete study in technology literacy, the design process, emerging technologies, computer‐aided design, sustainable design and technology, power and energy, robotics simulation, financial and economic literacy, and workplace skills for the 21st century. “STEM education is very important to the future of Mississippi,” said Kendra L. Taylor, program supervisor for Technology Education and STEM Cluster, Mississippi Department of Education. “Introducing students to STEM Robots created by students compete for honors. In this competition, robots pick occupations will ensure a future workforce that can up inner tubes from the floor and stack them on pegs on the wall. Programs compete globally.” like FIRST and the VEX competition are designed to pique the interest of The MDE’s Office of Career and Technical Education students in STEM studies. Photo courtesy of Andy Gunkel has two career pathways that lead to STEM occupations: engineering and polymer science. There are 21 engineering In addition, a lot of jobs moving into the state in the next program areas and nine for polymer science. few years will be heavy users of informatics, he said. They’ll “There are plans to increase the number of engineering want tech savvy workers. program areas by 14 over the next two years. The number “We need our folks to use some imagination,” he said about of polymer science program areas has increased yearly as schools that have traditional vocational education programs. well,” said Taylor. They are offered in grades 10 through Making STEM a part of those programs will be crucial. 12 at career and technical centers throughout Mississippi. The curriculum is written to industry standards to ensure the South Mississippi content taught and equipment used is relevant. Hundreds of South Mississippi students have been “I am proud to say that we have some great programs introduced to careers in science, technology, engineering and that exist in both polymer science and engineering,” she math thanks to the vision of educators helping create a sci-tech said, singling out Gulfport and Leake County Career and culture here. Technical Center for engineering, and Petal, Hattiesburg and The interest of South Mississippi is not surprising, given Madison County Career and Technical Center for polymer that it’s the home of NASA’s Stennis Space Center, multiple science. And there are others, she said. university activities and the Air Force’s technology training “I believe that this does in fact afford Mississippi an center at Keesler Air Force Base. opportunity to single itself out because polymer science Creating a local pool of sci-tech talent is important from is a small, yet growing field. The University of Southern an economic development standpoint. The more the culture Mississippi is nationally known for its post-secondary of science and technology is developed, the more the region degrees within the field of polymer science. They worked piques the interest of companies. closely with all nine of the secondary program areas within That became obvious to Rick Saucier, career technical the areas of teacher training, student competition and coordinator in the Hancock County School District, during a internships,” Taylor said visit some time back to Port Bienville Industrial Park, where companies are using composites. He knew polymer science Beyond Scientists and other STEM-related programs, were key. Mulvihill said that while STEM education is important Hancock County today has engineering, robotics and for creating a cadre of scientists and engineers, it’s also polymer science programs. The county’s approach is that every important for those who enter non-science fields. 9th grader takes STEM training. “From a broad perspective, the state of Mississippi is “In that class, they’re learning different skills, basic starting to move towards higher wage, higher skill jobs,” robotics, Blackboard on line, basic computer aided drawing, said Mulvihill, and those industries that are already here use introduction to STEM,” Saucier said. technology more than in the past. Hancock County did not let lack of funding hold them back. “When people think of STEM, they don’t think of Saucier said that when the state was going through a high manufacturing,” Mulvihill said. But they should. He said school redesign four or five years ago, it put in a STEM shipbuilding is a perfect example of what’s happening. New program at pilot sites. “Not every school was allowed to pilot. ship designs, the incorporation of even more technology into We wanted to wait and see.” vessels and the use of new, advanced materials is changing the way ships are built. (STEM Education continued, page 4)

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 3 of the students themselves that is particularly significant. STEM Education (continued from page 3) Team Fusion sponsors a robotic tournament with Dupont, Vex Robotic, involving 30 teams from 10 schools from five For two years the high school redesign was funded by districts. The tournament kickoff is in September and the the state Legislature, but the third year was not. Now it’s tournament itself the second weekend in November. up to the school districts to provide funding. The RCU at The number of fourth to eighth-grade students involved Mississippi State rewrote the curriculum to keep the costs in the competition is 250 to 300. low and make it more affordable. Andy Gunkel, a teacher of engineering and robotics at “We knew we had to do something,” said Saucier, who Gulfport High School, said he’s seen an increase in interest had computers that were donated by Lockheed Martin in STEM. He’s particularly pleased one of his students is a upgraded and modified to use the necessary software. girl who said she just loves engineering. A grant covered the cost of some additional teacher training. Fava said that in classes like Gunkel’s, the students are able Student work desks were created from modular systems to see that the technology they use all the time can be powerful used in previous classrooms. tools to use in problem solving. Hancock County’s STEM program was put in place last There’s a three to four-week Summer Robotics and Invention year, and 300 students in the 9th grade went through the Camp that was started in 2001 for students coastwide. program. This year more than 300 additional students are Between 2001 and 2004, over 480 students participated. Many taking the STEM-related classes. went on to participate in FIRST. “We’re at the starting point, just two years into it,” Saucier The Vex summer robotic camp is designed to reach said. “Right now we’re in our infancy. We’re addressing it elementary school children. Mentors come from the high and we’re growing. You have to have a starting point,” he schools. “We have a very good cohort of students come all said. “I’m encouraged.” the way through summer camp as elementary school kids, Students from the Hancock County, Bay St. Louis- get involved in FIRST and have become mentors in post Waveland and Pass Christian school districts attend the secondary site.” Hancock County Career Technical Center, which has The Vex tournament started in 2006 with five teams from 13 different technical programs. two schools and 30 kids. It’s grown to 30 teams from 10 different schools this year, some 250 students. Enter the Robots Fava credits Stennis Space Center with the success of Brandon Warner, 19, of Gulfport, isn’t sure exactly what the robotics program. he wants to do when he finishes school, but he does know “NASA has always worked closely with Team Fusion from it will be in mechanical engineering. Currently enrolled in its inception with engineering mentors and NASA's own the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College but planning brand of inspiration. Who doesn't want to work with rocket to transfer to Mississippi State University, he was 13 or 14 scientists?” he asks. when he went to a robotics summer camp. “For the last five years, Team Fusion has been honored A burning desire? Not really, just “something interesting to to be the NASA Stennis Space Center house team, which do over the summer,” he said. enables the team to play a more active role in outreach through But a seed was planted, and today Warner, who was sponsorship funding and STEM related NASA focused homeschooled, is serving as a mentor for younger kids activities,” said Fava. who are interested in robotics. He saw the value of What may be the most remarkable mission of Team Fusion mentors early on. is its willingness to inspire and help individuals excel in “After all they gave me, I’m giving back,” he said. STEM. The team has assisted and mentored FIRST teams in Schools in South Mississippi participate in the international Ecuador and Israel over the 2004 and 2005 competitions, and FIRST Robotics Competition, designed for budding science in 2008 the team assisted a team from New Zealand start a and technology students. program. Team Fusion also helped create a team in Brazil, and David Fava, Director of Career and Technology Education two members learned Portuguese in order to help. at the Gulfport High School Technology Center, said - David Tortorano Gulfport’s team, Team Fusion, was the first team in the state and every year involves about 30 students. Gulfport has had Suggested Readings: a team for 13 years, and it involved students from multiple districts. • Department of Defense Annual Industrial “We don’t let just a school name stop us from inspiring Capabilities Report to Congress students,” Fava said. It’s open to students who attend public • Rising Above the Gathering Storm 2005 and private schools, and those who are homeschooled. • Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited: A decade ago there were three Mississippi teams involved Rapidly Approaching Category 5 in FIRST. Today the number is 13 from Mississippi, 42 from • Enterprising States: Recovery and Renewal Louisiana and 14 from Alabama. But it may be the outreach for the 21st Century

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 4 ——————————— education ———————————— NASA, Navy Push STEM Training

• Navy’s Mission Ocean to launch this year • SSC reaches 730 teachers in 30 workshops a year • Programs improve test scores in science, math

For NASA and the Navy, ensuring there’s a pool of talent versed in science, technology, engineering and math is crucial, and both agencies have programs in place to pique the interest of the next generation of workers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with a center at Stennis Space Center (SSC) and the Department of the Navy, with operations at SSC and Gulfport, are reaching Mississippi Students view a display while taking a “Mission Ocean” class in this file photo. The program will be brought students through several programs. to Mississippi in the 2012-2013 school year. Photo courtesy of Mission Ocean “Encouraging students to pursue STEM disciplines is so very important. It offers of globalization and the computerization of the world. students exciting job opportunities,” Leland Melvin, At SSC, 34 percent of the workforce has scientific/technical NASA’s associate administrator for education, said in a skills, 24 percent have business/professional and 22 percent November 16, 2011 release. “For NASA and the nation, have skills in technical/crafts/production. Six percent are building the STEM pipeline will ensure that we have a clerical and 14 percent are “other.” robust, high-tech workforce for the future.” The education level is also high: 5 percent have doctorates, 16 percent masters, 33 percent bachelors and 11 percent NASA associates. There are another 15 percent with “some college” NASA’s educational programs sport some significant and 19 percent with high school diplomas, according to an numbers. The nation’s 10 NASA centers reached a SSC study. combined 9,977 educators and served 105,812 students In addition to its own outreach, NASA supports programs through 2,939 programs between January 1, 2011 and operated by others. One November 11, 2011. NASA Outreach of the best known is the Stennis Space Center alone has impressive numbers. FIRST program for Between January 1, 2011 and November 11, 2011, nearly 1/1/2011 - 11/11/2011 middle and high school 1,000 educators and 10,000 students have been served 10 NASA Centers students. FIRST, or through 168 programs. In a single year between September Completed programs - 2,939 For Inspiration and 2010 and the same month in 2011, there were 30 educator Educators served - 9,977 Recognition of Science workshops for 730 teachers. A whopping 96 percent said Students served - 105,812 and Technology, was the workshops were valuable. Others - 1,619 founded in 1989 by During the same one-year period, 9,542 students were inventor Dean Kamen. reached through events and presentations. Astro Camp Stennis Spac e Center It’s designed to get young had 20 sessions, including Saturday camps and week-long Completed programs - 168 people interested in summer sessions involving 673 students ages 7 to 15. Educators served - 960 science and technology. “STEM is very important,” said Katie Wallace, education Students served - 9,929 Others - 51 director at NASA SSC. She’s read the studies and is (STEM Training continued, page 6) concerned about retaining the skills needed in light

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 5 STEM Training (continued from page 5) FIRST Competitions A Brandeis University study compared FIRST robotics competitors with non-FIRST students with similar academic • FIRST Robotics Competition, grades 9-12 (ages 14-18) background and found FIRST students more than three times • FIRST Tech Challenge, grades 9-12 (ages 14-18) as likely to major in engineering and 10 times as likely to • FIRST LEGO League, grades 4-8 (ages 9-14) have had an apprenticeship, internship or co-op job in their • Junior FIRST LEGO League, grades K-3 (ages 6-9) freshman year. They were more than twice as likely to expect to pursue a career in science and technology. • FIRST Place for ages 6 to adult At Stennis Space Center, the need goes well beyond NASA. It’s home to a large concentration of oceanographers, meteorologists, marine scientists and more. Tenant agencies, for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation, like the Navy, are technology driven. SeaPerch’s goal is to find the next generation of naval “They have the same workforce concerns,” Wallace said. architects, marine engineers, naval engineers and ocean engineers, priorities for the Navy. The Navy SeaPerch trains educators to teach their students how to build This past October, educators gathering in Jackson an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Students for the 2011 Mississippi Science Teacher’s Association build the ROV from a kit of low-cost parts, following a Conference learned more about a Navy-sponsored academic curriculum that teaches basic engineering and science concepts outreach that will be offered in Mississippi during the with a marine engineering theme. 2012-2013 school year. The training of teachers is done at no cost to the school “Mission Ocean” will coincide with the 2012 district. They participate in a two-day program that carries commissioning in Gulfport of the nuclear-powered attack continuing education or professional development credits. submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). It’s the training of teachers that is a key component of The year-long submarine-related science curriculum, NASA SSC’s outreach, officials said. approved by the Mississippi Department of Education for NASA SSC’s educator resource center specializes in 6th and 7th grades, was developed by Purdue University providing training to teachers through 25 to 75 credit-bearing in 1997. It focuses on science activities and missions in a workshops per year. A lot of the training is done at SSC, but simulated submarine control room. some is done outside SSC, including at universities. Wallace Like FIRST, participation in the Mission Ocean program estimates that NASA SSC reaches between 600 and 1,200 has produced statistically significant improvement in teachers a year through the workshops. standardized test scores in the content areas of science, Many of those teachers become advocates and spread the mathematics and social studies, according to officials. word to other teachers. Wallace said that as a result of the Dr. Bob Rivers, director of the Center for Science and workshop they attended, two teachers went back to their Technology Education at Purdue University Calumet, said school and taught the same workshop to 25 more teachers. officials from the program will meet with the Mississippi Those are the numbers that aren’t tabulated, but are significant. Department of Education and representatives from math/ “We know that we reach even more than what’s captured in science partnerships from around the state in February our numbers,” Wallace said. - David Tortorano to develop plans to disseminate the program. Among the things still to be done is identifying a science center in the state with a theater environment that could support the 3-D undersea visual environment for student’s final mission. “We’re going to provide the visualization and any equipment that the center does not have to mount it. In addition, an educational agency or corporation in the state needs to step up and provide for a professional developer to work with teachers for an extended time to implement the program. Finally, schools that would like to pilot the program will be identified,” Rivers said. “Mission Ocean” is just one of the ways the Navy is reaching out to students to pique their interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Another program, Mississippi, 20th in the nation in growth of STEM workers, is responding to SeaPerch, focuses on robotics. Sponsored by the Office of the call for more science, technology, engineering and math trained students. Naval Research and managed by the Association Photo courtesy of NVisions Solutions

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 6 ——————————— stennis space center ———————————— Companies Looking at SSC

• Blue Origin to test BE-3 engines at E-1 stand • E-4 stand being offered to commercial companies • Commercial interest in SSC continues to grow

The announcement in early December that a commercial spaceship company would test its engines at Stennis Space Center (SSC), Miss., was interesting enough, but it was just the latest in a series of stories over the past few months that point to an intriguing future for the center. Stennis Space Center Director Patrick Scheuermann said word is getting out about the test stands, the land that’s available for development and the expertise Test of an Aerojet AJ26 engine at Stennis Space Center’s E-1 test stand in 2010. Now Blue Origin at SSC, and commercial companies is interested in testing engines at SSC. Photo courtesy of NASA are showing interest. “We had been hearing on sort of an infrequent basis,” NASA. Priority will be given to users that support space Scheuermann said about companies interested in working exploration for the U.S. government or those that are involved with SSC, “but in the last couple of years the frequency in commercial space launch or commercial space user has picked up quite a bit.” missions, whether or not the U.S. government is a customer. Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced in This isn’t a first for SSC. NASA’s H-1 Test Complex, used December during a visit to Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., to test hybrid rocket motors, is now the Rolls-Royce Outdoor that the company will test the BE-3 engine at SSC’s E-1 Test Facility, with a 150,000 lbf stand used to test the Trent Test Stand. That, combined with a NASA move to find series of Rolls-Royce airliner engines. a commercial company interested in the E-4 test stand, E-4 consists of concrete-walled test cells and associated hard indicates a growing level of activity at SSC. stand, a high-bay work area with a bridge crane and adjacent “Your observations are dead on, in that there has been work area, control room space and personnel offices. The a lot of increase in activity here for testing of NASA and facility was designed to provide low-pressure hydrocarbon fuel commercial based companies, and just better awareness and oxidizer to test articles having a thrust in the horizontal in general of what this whole federal city is about,” plane up to 50,000 lbf maximum. But NASA envisions the said Scheuermann. growth of capabilities at the stand, including the addition of a It was in November that NASA issued a notice of Ram Air test capability up to Mach 0.8 to support the testing availability and request for information seeking to of power packs and engine systems up to 500,000 lbf thrust. identify industry interest in SSC’s underutilized E-4 Test And that may be a significant selling point. Facility. Originally designed to conduct ground tests of “There are a lot of companies with great ideas that I’ll say propulsion systems in support of NASA’s Rocket Based are laboratory or subscale versions,” said Scheuermann. Some Combined Cycle Program, the E-4 Test Facility was of the NASA testing is with engines with perhaps 500,000 partially built but has not been completed and further pounds in thrust. Some commercial companies are looking development is not planned. at 10,000 pounds or even 5,000 pounds of thrust. NASA wants to know if any commercial companies are interested in leasing the facility or partnering with (Stennis Space Center continued, page 8)

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 7 Stennis Space Center (continued from page 7) The other part has to do with money. Scheuermann points out that in an age when resources “And very quickly, as you can imagine, their success are limited for both the federal government and commercial at the lab or the subscale level will force them to either companies, the investment that’s been made on facilities at make an investment in their own back yard or search SSC since the Apollo program is significant and diverse. for somewhere that they can get it to the larger scale, They’ve successfully tested for the Apollo program, then the which is what Stennis is built for. And so rather than shuttle and more recently the Space Launch System. them duplicating infrastructure somewhere or putting “When you get right down to it, this place represents a their capital dollars somewhere, they’re basically using unique national capability. When you combine the rocket resources that the taxpayers already paid for once,” stands, the skill base and the buffer zone that’s around us to said Scheuermann. test 24-7, if somebody’s serious about leaving the rock called That’s the kind of thinking that went into Boeing’s lease Earth, you’re going to have to test engines a lot to make sure of OPF-3 at Kennedy. that they’re safe for either cargo or people to ride on. You can’t The effort to find commercial interest in E-4 is “sort of do that testing one time every second Tuesday on a month a similar thing, but the difference here is that at Stennis when everybody’s out of town. That’s where we’re unique,” Space Center (SSC) this is not new for us. We’ve entered Scheuermann said. these commercial agreements since the 90s. So that He said people are more familiar with Kennedy and agreement that you heard from Kennedy Space Center Marshall space centers than Stennis. As a result of the is one of the first ones that they’ve done. This is, I’d say, commercial engine testing, more commercial companies are normal duty for us.” learning that Stennis Space Center exists. “The word’s getting out on what exists here in South “Once they take the time to come from wherever they are Mississippi, and I think commercial companies are going to see what we have, they usually leave with their eyes wide to continue to flock to this area, whether they’re using the open,” said Scheuermann. “You can do a general comparison traditional stands, E-4, or just undeveloped land that we in just wage rates here in the Southeast United States versus have in the fee area,” he said. the West Coast or the Northeast and when you’re talking from Part of the appeal is the uniqueness of SSC. a business case perspective, commercial companies, that’s “There’s really not any places in the United States their bottom line.” anymore where the government or commercial companies Scheuermann said, “They can’t help but ask themselves, can come test 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 ‘What in the world am I doing somewhere else when I got days a year without having any fear of encroachment on everything I need right here’… We are on the front line of the surrounding communities,” said Scheuermann. “That’s the critical path to space.” - David Tortorano uniqueness of it.”

Post Office Box 1341 · Gulfport, MS 39502 Phone: 228.865.5003 Arnie Williams – [email protected] Website: www.mscoastalliance.com

partially funded by the NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss., is just one of the organizations in South Mississippi that uses STEM-trained workers. Mississippi, 20th in the nation in growth of STEM workers, is responding to the call for more science, technology, engineering and math trained students. At SSC, NASA tests engines like Orbital Science’s AJ26, but SSC has other organizations, including the Navy and NOAA, that have a need for STEM-trained workers. Photo courtesy of NASA

Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue IV • Page 8