CLD STEM Inspiring Through Robotics

Cadets and Faculty from the Center for Leadership and Diversity in STEM executed STEM programming during the Leadership, Ethics, and Diversity in STEM workshop in Carson, CA. The day began with a brief mini-lesson on the importance of STEM and how USMA, as the nation’s first school of engineering, shaped the advancement of the field. After the mini-lesson, the students spent the remainder of the morning constructing their own “portable unmanned ground vehicles” using Lego Mindstorms. During the afternoon session, the students were given a brief introduction to the use of computer programming to solve problems. The students were then given a scenario in which their “unmanned ground vehicles” had to transport supplies to earthquake victims using a predefined route too dangerous for troops. At the end of the day students had a better understanding of problem solving and an increased interest in pursuing STEM. Small prizes were also awarded to the team best able to navigate the route. The Center for Leadership and Diversity in STEM also traveled to Los Angeles California to conduct a Mobile STEM Workshop for the Public Housing Authority of Los Angeles. In all, 26 middle school students from the local housing project were present for the Lego Mindstorms workshop. The students first received a presentation on the benefits of pursuing STEM education, then they had the opportunity to construct their own robot. Following lunch, the students learned some basic fundamentals of programming, which they then applied to programming their robots to negotiate a maze.