Photo By Latasha Ball | STEM leaders from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD),...... read more read more
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Three local warfare centers partnered with the Ventura County STEM Network to host a virtual panel of warfare centers leaders who shared Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)’s important role in daily warfare center projects, what inspired each leader’s STEM career and the importance of advocating STEM career opportunities with the Navy to the local community.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD); Naval Facilities Engineering Systems and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC); and Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWC WD) with the county’s STEM Network held Inspiring Wonder: Conversations with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Leadership on Feb. 25 in honor of National Engineers Week, which runs from Feb. 21 to Feb. 27, and to educate local community members, school administrators and students about STEM careers.
The program featured candid conversations with Vance Brahosky, NSWC PHD deputy technical director; Richard Burr, NAWC WD STEM champion and chief engineer; and Kail Macias, NAVFAC EXWC technical director. Representatives from Ventura County’s Children’s Museum kidSTREAM, private industry, PHD’s Fathomwerx Lab, Kickass Café—a local resource for startup businesses—and members of the warfare centers’ workforces, also attended.
The virtual speakers’ panel, an informal, fireside chat-style conversation between a moderator and a guest or guests, was also the first time the warfare centers jointly organized such a panel in honor of National Engineers Week. Panelists also discussed how they got into STEM, projects at their respective warfare centers, how they work together to contribute to the Navy’s missions, the types of programs and initiatives they’re working on and the sources of their passions for STEM.
Carina Reeves, STEM project manager for NAVFAC EXWC, said the event was a fantastic opportunity for the workforces to not only learn the backstories of their leaders, but for the community and students to understand how they can contribute to the nation's future through a STEM career. Additionally, attendees heard how Brahosky, Macias and Burr’s professional Navy STEM journeys have made a lasting impact.
“Mr. Macias, our technical director for NAVFAC EXWC, actually started with the command as an intern and worked his way up to be our senior leader, and it's an inspiring story,” Reeves explained. “Folks inside and outside the command don't often have an opportunity to meet these gentlemen because they are busy leading our organization, so this is an awesome opportunity to see behind-the-scenes, ask your questions, talk to them and see our entire command is behind our STEM outreach efforts.”
During the event, Macias shared his personal story that began when he was a Ventura College student who enjoyed math and science, and then decided to major in engineering. A summer internship with the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory that enabled him to work alongside the Marine Corps, engineers and engineering technicians for a project was an eye-opening experience, Macias said. The briefing after the project made such a lasting impression on him of the Navy, that it solidified his decision to work for the armed service.
"At the end of the meeting, as we were briefing it out, the senior Marine Corps officer stood up and thanked each of us and said, 'Today, you made a huge difference; you saved lives and proved the success of an operation that has a lot of importance,'" Macias explained. "Right then and there, I knew I not only picked the right (academic) degree, but that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life—work for the Navy and provide these types of solutions."
Brahosky also shared how his path with the Navy began after learning a family mentor’s brother, who was a positive role model, served in the Navy as a chief petty officer. Plus, seeing advertisements when very young that linked joining the Navy with seeing the world also planted a seed for adventure that continues to this day after nearly 50 years. Finally, his career experiences taught him how important STEM is to the military’s mission.
“For nearly 50 years now, I’ve had a wonderful passion about serving the Navy in any shape and form, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do from 10 years of age,” Brahosky said. “And when you go down a path of getting into the service, you have to consider how important it is that science, technology, engineering and math form the foundation of our Navy as it does for the other services as they go about the missions of protecting our country and the freedoms that we enjoy.”
While STEM plays a huge role in the military and the warfare centers, Burr pointed out to the students that if they have non-STEM-related career interests such as business and administration, they can still contribute to the Navy's mission.
"While we are talking STEM, all of our warfare centers are businesses, so you may say, 'Well, I kind of like that, but I also like the finance side of mathematics better,'" Burr said. "We are a business, and so we employ just like any business. We have scientists, engineers and technicians, but we also have business and administration professionals. All of those skillsets are needed to make our businesses run."
Ramon Flores, NSWC PHD STEM coordinator and moderator for the event, said events like this play a key role in enabling the Navy to build a strong workforce and recruit the right talent to ensure it meets its long-term objectives.
“I see my role here as STEM coordinator as helping the command achieve one of its strategic objectives to have a strong workforce by providing hiring managers with strong candidates,” Flores explained. “In my mind, that’s where it starts. It doesn’t matter how great of a system we have. If we don’t have the workforce to design, test, evaluate and support a missile, radar or launcher and support our Navy warfare centers, the technology doesn't matter.”
The STEM panel event is one of many events held during National Engineers Week for the command. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, middle schools and high schools held in-person competitions throughout the week with students, but due to COVID-19, STEM coordinators pivoted their plans. Flores said regardless of that, STEM coordinators still provided significant events to support the warfare center’s STEM program.
“The fact that despite COVID-19, we are still able to offer meaningful STEM programming to our audience is significant,” Flores said. “During a recent data call with the Office of Naval Research, I saw that the number of PHD staff engaged and the number of students we impacted during the pandemic were comparable to prior years even though we held a smaller number of events. This shows we’re still able to offer meaningful STEM programs as a command; and this is an example of one of them.”
Brahosky, who has participated in close to 50 to 60 STEM events since he started working for the command in October 2016, said events like the STEM leadership event are significant for the command and for the mission of the Navy in networking with academia and industry on joining the workforce, bringing a new perspective to existing issues and to continue functioning into the future.
“When you engage in activities that are focused on STEM with America’s youth, sometimes new insights are provided for those of us who are supporting the Navy that we otherwise wouldn't have thought about, and those insights can lead to our personnel pursuing different ideas on how to solve complex problems in support of maintaining and supporting the Navy today,” Brahosky said.
Brahosky also added the opportunity to interact with these students from first grade up to graduate school or even post-graduate school, has made him a better leader of the command—which he is extremely grateful for. Plus, seeing these interactions result in the paths students take is very rewarding.
“Some of those interactions have definitively resulted in people joining our command as federal civil servants or supporting us as engineers in the defense contractor domain,” Brahosky stated. “In some cases, personnel through our interactions have become so motivated toward service in the Navy and in defense of the country that they themselves have joined the armed forces. As we experience those interactions and see the fruit of our labor manifest itself so positively, we feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for the command.”
| Date Taken: | 03.17.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.17.2021 14:22 |
| Story ID: | 391621 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 161 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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