STEM to STERN

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Kevin Kwiat

Dr. Kevin A. Kwiat, formerly Principal Computer Engineer with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York with more than 34 years of federal service, is currently a CAESAR Group partner. He continues his 30+ years as an adjunct professor by teaching in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Network and Computer Security at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. He received his PhD in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.

Latest posts by Kevin Kwiat (see all)

• A Hardware Hiatus - November 18, 2024
• A Novel Idea - November 6, 2024
• Reflections on Technology Transfer - May 11, 2020

STEM is widely known as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. As an educational thrust, it covers pre-K to the college degree. Harnessing this end stage has been a CAESAR Group focus. Entrepreneurship, and not education, would seem to be the CAESAR Group’s interest. However, we take the view that an entrepreneur is one who assumes risk in a business. Are STEM college students not assuming risk? Clearly, they are because of the time and money investment – especially those taking on student debt. The pursuit of career success also assumes the risk that they will find a place in business – as an employee or their own business. Acknowledging the entirety of the STEM degree and its endgame for students, the CAESAR Group launched an initiative as a follow-on to STEM: “Students Transforming Entrepreneurship Right Now” or, STERN.

The transformation is occurring in a pilot program. The pilot embraces the CAESAR Group’s tech transfer (T2) mission to collaborate with the decision makers in private industry to bring Air Force, other military, and university developed technology to the commercial marketplace. Advancing intellectual property (IP) has been for the benefit of the USA and national security. Now, using the Tech Portfolio at our website as a baseline, we are accelerating this advancement by conducting T2 in the classroom. The basic idea is exposing students to technical solutions that are embodied by IP and then have the students learn the principles used to arrive at that solution. This is an adaptation of a “top-down” approach that has been used for teaching software design.
The CAESAR Group is not acting alone here; instead, the pilot is being undertaken by professors at the following institutions of higher education: SUNY Poly, Utica College, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Tennessee State University, and Canisius College. Though the pilot is still on-going, data from students have already been acquired including tips for keeping curriculum relevant, tools to guide students toward success, and evolving technology and its impact on jobs.

STEM’s exertion on the economy is enormous and underscores the relevance of our “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math to Students Transforming Entrepreneurship Right Now” initiative – aka STEM to STERN. The transformation, although in its nascent stages, is now evident by witnessing students being propelled towards their career objectives with the reduced risk of being ill-equipped or lacking the ability to put theory to practice. STEM to STERN, by embracing “from one end to the other end”, is serving to illuminate STEM opportunities and challenges that lie ahead by pointing students in the direction of successful strategies and useful tools as they navigate toward career fulfillment.