AEOP

ARMY EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM

The United States Army has long recognized that a scientifically and technologically literate citizenry is our nation’s best hope for a secure, rewarding, and successful future.

For over 50 years, the Army has supported a wide range of educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for our youth, college and graduate students, as well as our valued teachers.

The need for STEM literacy – the ability to understand and apply STEM concepts in order to solve our nation’s most complex problems – is growing exponentially. The requirement for STEM literacy goes beyond the traditional STEM occupations of scientist, engineer and mathematician. The Army also has a growing need for highly qualified, STEM-literate technicians and skilled workers in advanced manufacturing, logistics, management and other technology-driven fields. Success and sustainment for the Army’s Science & Technology Enterprise heavily depends on the continuous development of innovative solutions that protect the greatest asset – our soldiers – and our nation against current and emerging threats.

AEOP offers our nation’s youth and teachers a collaborative, cohesive portfolio of opportunities that effectively engage future workforce generations in meaningful, real-world STEM experiences, competitions, and paid internships.

UNITE

UNITE is a six week, pre-collegiate summer experience for talented high school students in STEM. Held at higher education institutions across the country, UNITE encourages students to pursue college majors and careers in engineering and other STEM-related fields through a program of focused hands-on rigorous academics, enrichment, and career exploration.

Operating on a two-year cycle (2019-2020), UNITE targets rising 9th through 12th grade students. Student applications for 2019 summer programs will be accepted beginning in February 2020 through April 2020, depending on the program location. Students accepted into the program receive support and enrichment designed to best help them achieve their goals of higher education and careers in STEM.

This time UNITE 2020 is being conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, Nevada under the guidance of Dr. Justin Zhan. As a Carnegie research oriented university, UNLV provides an environment for students to learn, apply their knowledge, and evolve in the STEM fields.

“UNITE was an extremely rewarding experience. I learned how to divide and conquer a project with my team members. I learned how to look at our world in a mathematic and scientific manner. I would recommend this program to anyone– it was absolutely incredible.” -UNITE Student

UNITE @ UNLV

UNITE at UNLV is a 6-week STEM enrichment program which focuses on computer programing and research oriented studies. During the 6-week program, each faculty/graduate student mentor at UNLV will work with one to four students on a carefully designed research project. In the first four weeks, students will focus on developing projects. A series of tutorials and workshops will be provided to help students gain the necessary background knowledge and learn about how to conduct scientific research in Data Science and Engineering (DSE). Students will also work with their individual mentors, read literature, and design their projects. From week 5 through week 6, students will carry out their projects under the supervision of their mentors. They will also attend weekly seminars and workshops by faculty and advisers on various career-related and advanced topics. In the 6th week, students will prepare a written scientific paper and an oral lecture for presentation in the UNLV Big Data Hub meeting. During the 4th week, Programming Assessment will be conducted.

Through these experiences, students will improve their ability to formulate and solve research problems, increase their communication proficiency in both scientific and public contexts, and establish a close working relationship with their faculty/graduate student mentors. This AEOP program is expected to motivate these high school and/or middle school students to enter college programs in STEM.

Objectives:

Recruit a diverse pool of motivated students from high schools with limited research programs to participate in the AEOP program;
Help students develop a broadly applicable skill set including oral and written communication, research methods, critical thinking, and problem solving;
Encourage students to pursue STEM college studies; and
Motivate students to develop a career interest in data science and engineering, a field of national priority.

Program Details:

- Program Dates: May 29th, 2020 – July 3rd, 2020
- Program Duration: 6 weeks
- Program Timings: 8:30 A.M – 4:30 P.M (Monday – Friday)
- Program Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Number of Intake: 20 students

Deadlines:
- Applications submitted by March 29th 2020 will be considered for scholarship.
- The non-scholarship application deadline is April 18th (applications submitted after March 29th may or may not be considered for scholarships).