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STEM

STEM@Home Speaker Series: Join the Conversations!

June 16, 2020 by NCAC STEM Committee

Every Thursday at 7PM, you can join our STEM@Home Speaker Series!

We host conversations to learn about exciting STEM careers! So far we’ve featured a medical physicist, airline pilot, virtual reality, chess strategy, and an engineer…. if you missed them, you can head over to www.facebook.com/NCACSTEM where the talks are archived!

The next two presenters are a physicist and a veterinarian. Read more about them, see how these conversations tie into your awards, leap into STEM career exploration, and secure your spot here: https://scoutingevent.com/082-STEMSpeakers Be sure to register early to join the ZOOM conversation with the speakers!

June 18: Science Night: A Conversation with Dr. Nick Maliszewskyj

“What are neutrons and how are they useful? Neutrons are a particle with no electrical charge and which stabilize atomic nuclei. They are liberated as a byproduct of fission in nuclear reactors and radioactive decay and can be used as a probe to determine the composition and structure of materials. Because they have a magnetic moment they can also tell us about the magnetic structure of different kinds of materials. In a neutron scattering facility, scientists use neutrons to determine the structure and dynamic properties of all kinds of materials, from superconductors to superglue.”

Dr. Nick Maliszewskyj earned a Ph. D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. He currently works as the team leader for data acquisition at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, an international facility for materials research. He has served as an instrument scientist and lead controls engineer for more than fifteen neutron scattering instrumentation projects over his twenty five years at the facility.

June 25: Science Night: A Conversation with Dr. Carmela Stamper

Pets, livestock (like dairy cows and honeybees), and zoo animals need doctors, just like people do. But, did you know that veterinarians do more than give shots and do surgery? Veterinarians have many important roles in our everyday lives that you may not be aware of. Why on earth would you want to be a veterinarian? How do you become a veterinarian? What are some of the invisible roles veterinarians play in your life? What’s life like as a veterinarian in practice? What’s it like working as a veterinarian in the government? Do veterinarians get to play with puppies and kittens all day long? Who is James Herriot and why is he so important to many veterinarians? Are pheasants native to the U.S.? How fast does a ferret’s heart beat? Does heartworm disease only affects dogs? Which carries more of a horse’s body weight—its front legs or its back legs? Is xylitol is safe for dogs? (And what is it?) Get the answers to these and other burning questions during Dr. Stamper’s talk.

Dr. Carmela Stamper earned her D.V.M. degree from The Ohio State University in 1995. She worked in a companion animal (pet) hospital before starting a career with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. Her first role at FDA was as an animal drug reviewer, where she evaluated data for new animal drugs. She now works on the Center’s Education and Outreach Team, where she writes articles for the Center’s website, responds to phone calls and emails from the public, and helps teach the public about FDA’s role in their lives. Dr. Stamper is an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 1397 in Damascus, MD. Her two-legged family includes her son, who is an Eagle Scout, and her husband, who is also an assistant scoutmaster in Troop 1397. Dr. Stamper’s four-legged family includes Daisy, her tennis-ball-crazy Flat-coated Retriever, and Bowie, her pudgy guinea pig.

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: careers, STEM, stem at home, STEM Scouts, stem speaker series

Sully District Scout Writes Article for STEM Publication

June 4, 2020 by Cyndy Hogan

Kyle Hogan, the senior patrol leader of Troop 1547 in the Sully District, recently wrote an article for a new publication, SIGNAL Kids. He interviewed a cybersecurity expert for the magazine, which focuses on STEM topics for kids ages 8-12.

Kyle, who is a sophomore at Westfield High School and started his Scouting journey as a Tiger in first grade, spoke with Dr. Gil Duvall, president and CEO, Data Security Strategies, about his decision—at age 14—to work for NASA and how he made that dream into a reality.

“Writing an article about kids going into STEM careers was very enlightening. I learned a lot about the past of the STEM field, as well as indicators of the future and the state of the present,” Kyle said. “He talked about how following his dream of working for NASA led him to where he was today, and he serves as a very positive example of someone being dedicated to their craft in STEM and achieving wonders through it.”

Duvall also offered Kyle, who is interested in a career in cybersecurity and computer science, some career advice.

“Talking with Dr. Duvall was incredibly helpful. He gave advice for students going into STEM careers in terms of academic classes and extracurricular activities that were extraordinarily in-depth, which was helpful for the article and as well as for myself personally, as I plan on going into a STEM career,” Kyle said.

In the interest of full disclosure, Kyle’s mom works for AFCEA and SIGNAL Magazine, which published SIGNAL Kids. His mom’s colleagues were impressed with Kyle’s writing ability and expressed sadness that they had to cut out several words and make changes to the article to make it more readable for younger kids.

In SIGNAL Kids, a robot named Link and his sidekick Obo, which stands for “off by one,” guide readers through the publication. Topics of articles include the Internet of everyday things and how to stay safe online. One story refers to Star Wars lightsabers and lightning to explain how researchers found a way to help protect systems from hackers.

Check out Dr. Duvall’s and Kyle conversation below.

Go to url.afcea.org/SIGNALforKids to read the digital version of SIGNAL Kids.

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: SIGNAL Kids, STEM, stem at home

Year-long Effort for Six Pack 1967 Cub Scouts Pays off with Supernova Awards!

June 3, 2020 by Jason Mann

Five Wolf Cub Scouts in Pack 1967 and one Webelos Scout worked all year to earn the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Cub Scout Supernova Award and the Dr. Charles H. Townes Webelos Supernova Award.

All six Scouts began their work on the award in July 2019, by learning that science, technology, engineering and math are an important part of almost every career. While the Scouts could have visited someone who works in a traditional STEM-based career, they met Mr. Kirkland, the manager of the Fairfax Duck Donuts, and learned that there was far more STEM involved in making doughnuts than they ever thought. And they learned that science can be delicious.

In August, they learned about the scientific method by testing which soda and configuration of Mentos would result in the tallest soda geyser using 2-liter bottles. The Wolves conducted a little research before the meeting and learned that diet sodas produced the tallest geysers. The Wolves designed their experiment to control as many variables as possible and tested 12 different diet sodas using six Mentos for each trial. The Wolves’ measuring stick was 10 feet tall, but for many of the geysers, that was not nearly enough. Both Diet Ginger Ale and Diet Tonic water had geysers estimated at 20 to 25 feet tall!

For the Dr. Charles H. Townes Webelos Supernova Award, Scouts must not only lead an experiment using the scientific method, but write a short report on their experiment. The Webelos Scout designed an experiment to calculate the density of, and then test whether, various types of soda cans would float or sink in a bucket of a mystery solution (mostly water). Noting that sinking cans were denser than the solution and floating cans were less dense than the solution, he was able to determine an upper and lower bound for the density of the solution.

Throughout the year, these six Scouts worked on their normal rank adventures and somehow also found time to research the award namesakes although with other scientists and inventors who impacted our lives by studying dinosaurs, inventing the printing press, studying chimpanzees, inventing the alternating current motor, inventing a robot, and inventing Coca-Cola.

The five Wolf Scouts completed the requirements for their Supernova Award on March 12 by visiting SunTrust bank and learning about interest. The used their new knowledge of interest to calculate sums using the current interest rate and a more math-friendly rate. While touring the bank, the Scouts’ parents received the email from NCAC announcing the cancellation of all in-person Council and District Scouting events starting on March 13. The Wolves literally finished the requirements for the award less than 24 hours before activities were suspended. Talk about timing!

And, as if completing the Supernova Awards were not enough for these six Scouts, during the course of the year, each of them completed at least two additional Nova awards for a grand total of 16 awards between the six of them!

Congratulations to Joseph Crowley, Henrik Mann, Henry Speidell, Brennan Goetz, Holden Riley, and Cormac Mann on their achievement!

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: Cub Scouts, STEM, STEM Scouts, Supernova, Webelos, Wolf

Pack 278’s First Supernova Award in Over 60 Years of Chartered Existence

June 2, 2020 by Jennifer Hansen

Finn H., a Bear with Pack 278, spent the year working towards earning the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award. The Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award is an achievement for Wolf and Bear Scouts in the Cub Scouts, BSA. Over the course of a year, Finn worked with his Supernova Mentor, Clare Davis, to complete nine different requirements in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Pack 278 is located in Braddock Heights, Maryland and has been chartered with the Braddock Heights Volunteer Fire Department for over 60 years. Finn H. is the first Scout in the history of the Pack to earn this award.

In July of 2019, Finn began the journey by completing his first requirement; visit with someone who works in a STEM-related Career. Finn’s grandfather, an Eagle Scout, is an oceanographer who works for the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Eric Powell has been in the field of oceanography/marine biology for the past 34 years studying shellfish and oyster restoration. Finn interviewed Dr. Powell to learn what he enjoyed most about his work. Dr. Powell’s favorite parts of the job were learning new things that were not known before and computer programming.

Learning about influential people in the STEM fields is a large part of the process in earning the Supernova Award. Along with learning about Dr. Luis W. Alvarez himself, Finn had to choose three other famous scientists, technology innovators, engineers, or mathematicians. Finn chose to investigate the lives of Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong, and Josef Kates. Upon learning about these men, Finn learned that they had many similarities in their lives. All had a curious streak as children that would occasionally get them into trouble but ultimately drove them to excellence in their careers.

Throughout the year, Finn completed Bear electives investigating different science fields. During the Forensic Adventure, Finn learned about fingerprints and chromatography. The highlight of this adventure was watching a Police K-9 dog conduct a working track. During the Make It Move Adventure, Finn learned about the physics behind simple machines and created a Rube Goldberg-type machine with the help of his den.

With only two requirements left to complete, the COVID-19 lockdown threatened Finn’s successful completion of the Supernova Award. Finn completed a science experiment investigating how solar ovens work and planned on presenting it in the Annual Frederick County Public School Science Fair in April. Due to the lockdown, Finn’s mother had to record his presentation from home and send it to his Mentor. Finn’s last requirement was to participate in a NOVA Award activity with his Pack. Finn joined several Scouts from his pack and a Scout from Pack 651 in Adamstown to complete the Up and Away Nova over Zoom.

Without the dedication of Finn’s Supernova Mentor and Pack Leaders, Finn would have had difficulty finishing this award during regular times. As Finn’s mother, and fellow STEM enthusiast, I would like to thank all those that helped Finn complete and earn the achievement. He is already excited to start again this summer on the next one, the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award!

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: Award, Awards, STEM, stem at home, Supernova

NCAC Cub Scout earns all 13 Cubs’ STEM Awards!

May 29, 2020 by NCAC STEM Committee

NCAC is pleased to announce a unique recognition for Caden Coffee who earned all the Nova & Supernova Awards available to Cub Scouts within BSA!

Caden Coffee is currently a fourth grader at BASIS Independent McLean and a Webelos in Pack 1344 of Patriot District. Caden earned his first Nova Award in early 2018, as a Wolf, and he has since then pursued every single Nova Award (11) & Supernova Award (2) that BSA currently offers to Cub Scouts.

Topping off Caden’s long and dedicated journey of STEM in Scouting, Caden remarkably finished the final requirements to the highest Cub Scout Supernova Award during social distancing lockdown (due to Covid-19).

The NCAC STEM Committee reviewed Caden’s application for the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award virtually. Dr. Arden Dougan, the NCAC STEM Committee Chair, recognized Caden in a virtual STEM@Home event and Caden’s father, Brett Coffee presented Caden with his Supernova medal.

During the virtual recognition ceremony, Caden mentioned that one of his most memorable projects was an experiment in which he had investigated how changing the shape and surface area of the Mentos dropped into a Coke bottle would affect the reaction. Caden shared the photos so you can see why; one of his experimental groups “2 Mentos” went almost 9 feet high!

Please join us in congratulating Caden Coffee for the rare feat of earning all the STEM Award in Cub Scouts; we can’t wait to see Caden’s continued pursuit of STEM!

To learn more about BSA’s Nova & Supernova Awards, click here.

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: Cub Scouts, STEM, stem at home, Supernova

Cub Scouts Receive Supernova Award During Pandemic

May 29, 2020 by NCAC STEM Commitee

A total of 28 NCAC Cub Scouts have earned a Supernova Award during these first months of Covid-19.

Congratulations to the 19 Bears and Wolves from 6 Districts who earned the Dr. Luis Alvarez Supernova Award, and congratulations to the 9 Webelos/AOLs from 4 Districts who earned the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award!

While the requirements for each award are distinct, all of these Cubs had to earn at least one rank-specific adventure, learn about famous scientists, participate in a science experiment and connect with their teachers.

Supernova Awards are approved at the Council level, and must be earned under the guidance of a registered Supernova Mentor. A tremendous thank you to all of these Cub Scouts’ Supernova Mentors!

To see the requirements for the Cubs Supernova Awards, click here.

To learn more about BSA’s Nova & Supernova Awards, click here.

Filed Under: Scouting At Home, Scouting Programs Tagged With: Awards, STEM, Supernova

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