Photo By Lorin Vilayvong | Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport Computer Scientist Isabel Hinkle (center) receives the 2025 Command Award for "Outstanding Contribution to STEM Education and Outreach." The award recognizes her extraordinary dedication to community outreach and youth education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through her volunteerism in STEM events and mentoring, she engaged with nearly 1,200 students and 27 teachers in 2025. Also pictured are NUWC Division, Keyport Acting Technical Director Jon Pentzer (left) and Commanding Officer Capt. Brandon Monaghan. (U.S. Navy Photo by Lorin Vilayvong /Released) see less
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NUWC Division, Keyport computer scientist honored with ‘STEM Education and Outreach’ Command Award
Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport Computer Scientist Isabel Hinkle recently received the 2025 Command Award for “Outstanding Contribution to STEM Education and Outreach.”
The award recognizes employees who demonstrate exceptional dedication to community outreach and youth education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. According to the award citation, Hinkle received it for a STEM education initiative in which she directly engaged with approximately 1,195 students and 27 teachers during calendar year 2025.
"Ms. Isabel Hinkle voluntarily shouldered responsibilities far beyond the normal scope of her duties, contributing to a robust, year-long STEM outreach program that has had a profound impact on the local community and brought immense credit to NUWC Division, Keyport," stated the citation.
NUWC Division, Keyport STEM Outreach Director Sam De Lano also lauded Hinkle’s volunteer efforts.
"For one mentor to reach over 1,000 students is pretty significant,” said De Lano. “A lot of times mentors like to stick in one lane—whether that’s high school, middle school or elementary. Isabel was supporting all grades and all types of events. She is super confident, and she’s one of the mentors I can confidently send out to either support or lead a project. She paints Keyport in a very good light.”
A Coeur d’Alene, Idaho native, Hinkle developed a passion for programming in high school. She went on to complete a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Idaho in Moscow. She began her current position at NUWC Division, Keyport shortly after completing her degree.
Hinkle, now a full-stack developer and team lead in the Enterprise Services Branch of the command’s Information Technology Department, began her volunteer journey in 2023. At the time, she was teleworking full-time and looking for opportunities to engage with the community in person.
“I was working from home full-time and I'm a very outgoing person, so I was looking for some ways that I could contribute to the mission, but also be around more people in person,” said Hinkle. “I came in for my first STEM outreach opportunity helping varying ages of students with a project, and it was honestly very exciting and very fulfilling. I had a great time getting to know the students and help out, and I haven't looked back since.”
Hinkle designed hands-on engineering projects—including electric racers, hydraulic claws and straw rockets—to help make complex technical concepts more accessible to students. She also launched a weekly mentorship program at Olympic High School in Bremerton, Washington, where students built aquatic remotely operated vehicles and tested them in a deep-water pool.
Hinkle also played key roles in major public STEM events, including the annual Discover-E Day at the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum, where she represented NUWC Division, Keyport before an audience of about 500 attendees and helped students of all ages build paper rockets and pneumatic launchers.
Hinkle’s award also recognized her contributions to a major robotics competition at NUWC Division, Keyport. According to the citation, she completed specialized training to serve as a judge, arrived early to create handwritten name tags, provided technical guidance to 300 student competitors, evaluated projects and mentored less experienced volunteers.
Hinkle emphasized that the learning has gone both ways. Before becoming a STEM mentor, she had been focused mostly on softwareand had had little exposure to physical hardware mechanics. But teaching students the fundamentals of fluid hydraulics and circuitry challenged her to learn them herself.
Hinkle's former supervisor praised her ability to maintain a strong volunteer presence while continuing to meet the demands of her job.
"None of our customers probably even noticed she was out, because she is just so careful with her scheduling,” she said.
Hinkle’s current supervisor, Lacy Dove, echoed this praise: "She has that organized mindset. When she has something scheduled, like the STEM outreach, she is prepared for it and makes sure that she has the time to support it."
Dove added, "She cares about the work-plus-life aspect out here, and so she wants to be a part of her community, and she wants to share that with the next generation. Her ability to lead a team and provide outreach to stakeholders that go beyond just Keyport is something that’s not the easiest to teach.”
Outside of work, Hinkle enjoys reading, sewing, crocheting and spending time with her husband and their three cats.
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Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport is headquartered in the state of Washington on the Puget Sound, about 10 miles west of Seattle. To provide ready support to Fleet operational forces at all major Navy homeports in the Pacific, NUWC Division, Keyport maintains detachments in San Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, and remote operating sites in Guam; Japan; Hawthorne, Nevada; and Portsmouth, Virginia. At NUWC Division, Keyport, our diverse and highly skilled team of engineers, scientists, technicians, administrative professionals and industrial craftsmen work tirelessly to develop, maintain and sustain undersea warfare superiority for the United States.
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