Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command Leads the Way in Recruiting the Future of Navy Medicine Through STEM Event at the Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium

13 May 2024

From Desmond Martin

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) — At the forefront of educational outreach, the Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command (NMCFHPC) participated in the Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International (AFCEA) Tidewater Chapter, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) day at the Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium (TWICS) May 8, 2024.

The event, held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, in Hampton, Virginia, was aimed to provide students with hands-on interactions and expose them to potential career pathways.
Dedicated staff members from NMCFHPC took an active role in the proceedings, setting up an engaging booth to enlighten students on gravity, buoyancy, temperature and pressure variations, robotics, computer programming, and cybersecurity.

Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command (NMCFHPC) participated in the Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International (AFCEA) Tidewater Chapter, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) day at the Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium (TWICS) May 8, 2024. The event, held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, in Hampton, Virginia, was aimed at providing students with hands-on interactions and expose them to potential career pathways. NMCFHPC staff established a booth to educate the students about gravity and buoyancy, as well as robotics, computer programming, and cybersecurity. NMCFHPC staff established a booth to educate the students about gravity and buoyancy, as well as robotics, computer programming, and cybersecurity. During the event, Lt. j. g. Kerry Day, an environmental health officer at the Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command, performs a demonstration at the Flinkers station for the students. The Flinkers experiment measures the buoyancy of the objects that the students construct and place into the water. According to the Archimedes Principle, an object partially or fully emerged in a fluid will experience a resultant force pushing up on it equal to the weight of the volume of fluid displaced by the object. This vertical force is called the force of buoyancy. The buoyant force on an object is equal to the weight of the volume of water displaced by the object. When the weight of the object submerged is equal to the upward buoyant force exerted by the water, the object is neutrally buoyant, so it doesn’t sink or float, it flinks. (Navy photo by Desmond Martin)

Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command (NMCFHPC) participated in the Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International (AFCEA) Tidewater Chapter, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) day at the Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium (TWICS) May 8, 2024. The event, held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, in Hampton, Virginia, was aimed at providing students with hands-on interactions and expose them to potential career pathways. NMCFHPC staff established a booth to educate the students about gravity and buoyancy, as well as robotics, computer programming, and cybersecurity. During the event, Andrew Bishop, director deputy of laboratory services at Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command, educates a student about gravity and buoyancy. This station was held to inform students how life preservers work. The density of a substance is its mass divided by the volume. At the station there were four balls with the same volume but different masses. The balls with greater mass have greater weight and density. Density is how much stuff is packed into a volume. The balls with a density greater than water will sink, and the balls with a density less than water will float. (Navy photo by Desmond Martin)

Revonna Sanders, an industrial hygienist with NMCFHPC, emphasized the event's objective: “The purpose of the event is to expose students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to talk to them about health careers, coding, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.”

“Events like these are important so to expose students to the many different STEM careers, not only in engineering and technology but also health and medical fields. Hopefully this event will touch and inspire the students to want to learn and do more with STEM.”

Sanders also said, “STEM education is foundational to society, it prepares students for complex challenges, fosters critical thinking, and offers rewarding career opportunities. STEM skills are highly valued in today’s rapidly evolving global economy.”

According to Andrew Bishop, deputy director of laboratory services at NMCFHPC, “STEM events bring real-world problems and solutions into a visual setting that may not be provided in a classroom setting. “It brings fundamental science projects that teach a concept that are very important to our society, and in our case, the military and the Navy.”

The TWICS - Tidewater Chapter comprises of more than 300 military, government, civilian, industry and academia leaders in the Joint Base Langley-Eustis and Ft Monroe Areas. They foster extensive community relations, scholarships, science and teaching tools, and STEM-related endeavors.

Lt. j.g. Kerry Day, an environmental health officer at NMCFHPC, stressed the importance of such gatherings stating, “These events profoundly impact what our next generations will look like. Without continued excitement about the field it could become stagnant,” he said. “These events really continue and maintain the spark in all age groups, and it is really important that we keep having them.”

Story originally posted on DVIDS: Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command Leads the Way in Recruiting the Future of Navy Medicine Through STEM Event at the Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium

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