Our Greater Kansas City (GKC) Post, SAME has been hard at work supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiatives for students of all ages.  Often referred to as the STEM Ladder, our post has strategically supported programs targeted at increasing student exposure to STEM programs in middle and high school and providing STEM-focused learning opportunities and career training support for high school, college and graduate students.  Encouraging students to pursue STEM coursework studies, and ultimately helping qualified candidates complete their training to fill the up to 2 million National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) projected future STEM jobs in America, is the focus of the STEM initiative.

The six rungs or programs that our post supports to establish a full STEM ladder are:

• Middle School - Future Cities Competition
• High School - Science Pioneers / Science Fair
• High School - Science and Engineering Camps
• College/Graduate School - STEM Scholarships
• College/Graduate School - SAME Student Chapters
• Post-Graduate - Training with Industry Internships

We began our climb up the ladder with the middle school rung in January 2014. The Post's new Team Work prize was offered as a Special Award in the Future Cities competition.  (See "Tomorrow's Transit...Today" later in the Newsletter for details.)

Our climb continues this spring with our second rung, Post support of Science Pioneers/Science Fair for High School Students.  Post representatives will judge submissions in the fields of Earth and Space Science, Environmental Science and Renewable Energy, Engineering.  A special award of $100 and a post coin will be awarded to the top presenters in each category and to the sponsor teacher.

Focusing on those students who are actively considering secondary education in STEM fields, our third rung is tuition and travel support for attendance at one of the military sponsored science and engineering camps.  The post is currently accepting applications from 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade students to one of three military summer camps.  The camps this year are being held at the following locations:

• U.S. Army Camp - Vicksburg, Mississippi
• U.S. Air Force Academy Camp - Colorado Springs, Colorado
• U.S. Marine Corps Camp - Camp LeJune, North Carolina

Camp applications are due to the post March 21^st.  The selection of GKC SAME student representatives to the camps will be made in Late March, all three camps are all scheduled for one week and will be held in early- to mid-June.

Supporting undergraduate and graduate students pursuing STEM track degrees from an ABT accredited curriculum is the fourth rung on our ladder.  The application window for GKC SAME Scholarships has just closed and the selection committee will convene to select awardees in late March.  Announcement of awardees will be made at an upcoming SAME meeting.

As the fifth rung of the STEM ladder, the Post is sponsoring the establishment and expansion of three Student Chapters at UMKC, KSU and, coming soon, KU.  The goal for each Student Chapter is to help set expectations for students as they look to transition from university to their first professional position.  As our youngest official society members our student chapter members are encouraged to network through the society by attending Post sponsored events.

Ongoing Post-Graduate and Career Growth is the final step in our STEM support ladder.  The Post sponsors the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) Engineer officer student Training With Industry (TWI) internship program, which offers executive level business practices exchange with private sector sustaining member company leaders. TWI internships are also offered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District via leadership panel discussions and tailored individual mentoring for CGSC officer students. These private sector and district sponsored opportunities occur from April through May and help broaden the experience of the officer students today and into their future as an Army Engineer.

Many thanks to all volunteers who help the GKC Post provide a complete ladder of growth opportunities for students of all ages in the STEM field.

by Merrill Watt, P.E. 

Superconducting levitation, quantum locking, Xygen engines, geothermal

Ms. Dani Lotton-Barker's students at Southwest Middle School in Lawrence, Kansas didn't wait, and they were rewarded with the Post's new Team Work Prize.

Through the study and application of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) these students participated in the Great Plains Region Future Cities competitions hosted by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). In the Future Cities Competition, students use SimCity software to design a future city of at least 50,000 residents. Ms. Lotton-Barker's seventh and eighth graders formed three organizations: Future City Libban-Eft, Future City NY REYKJAVIK, and Future City VOLTA.   They were among 62 Future City entries from Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.

All three future cities proved to be strong competitors and distinguished themselves, their school, and community through team work. Future City organization Libban-Eft won first place and the Post's new Team Work Prize. They placed fourth amid a field of 1337 teams in the national competition in Washington, D.C. 

Each organization was composed of three groups: the student-scholar group; teachers, mentors, and parents group; principal and USD 497 Board members leaders and resources group. They engaged the theme topic via: research, design of the virtual city, writing the city narrative, constructing a 3-D model, creating and delivering a presentation of 7 minutes or less.   

Future City Libban-Eft ( life again) features.

Year 2176. Canada, Vancouver area. 

Sixteen (16) scholars, eighth (8) grade.

Presentation setting: IOC summer games competition search for a host city. 

Presenters: Dr. Hamilton , IOC Summer Games Site Selection Leader: Eli Bork.   

                 Mayor Smith, Lebban-Eft: Anna Bial. 

                 Transportation Engineer, Libban-Eft: Madelyn Johnson

 Multi-modal transportation systems:

Megaport: Seaport & Airport. Accommodates submarines, surface ships, seaplanes, and quadracopters.

Nonstop train (NST): long distance intercity and intracity. Roll-on, roll-off passenger boarding cars.

Small scale transport: pedal powered bikes with a solar-power option. Walking via paths and trails.  

Plexus: Underground tubes throughout the city with different capacity passenger Modules. Each Module has a ceramic outer shell. Using quantum levitation, charged super conducting materials create a strong electromagnetic field that locks the Mods in-place above the tracks. Propulsion, braking and direction control is provided by air cannons. Nano-turbines coat every Mod to harness wind energy from moving Mods. The captured energy is then streamed into the city power grid. 

Intermodal: Transportation Hubs are located every two miles throughout the city and in compact urban cells. This allows interconnections among transportation modes that serve residential, commercial and industrial zones. 

Finance source: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

 Ms. Lotton -Barker credits her para-professional teachers Ms. Sandy Bush and Ms. Ceri Goulter for their dedicated contributions. Also, Ms. Lotton-Barker expressed thanks to Mr. Chris Storm P.E., volunteer mentor, and the community for their strong support.     

Nationally, more than 35,000 students take part in the Future City Competition at one of 37 regional competitions. The winner of the national competition receives a trip to U.S. Space Camp and an award of $7,500 for their school's STEM program.

by Amy McCurdy, P.E.  

The GKC Post once again participated in the E-week festivities and lunch at the Marriott Hotel in downtown on February 20th.  This event celebrates engineers and our contributions to society by bringing together professional engineers, numerous engineering societies, professors, students, and politicians for this singular event.  Many awards were presented, and the keynote speaker was Tom Roberts, Assistant Dean, College of Engineering, Kansas State University.  Our post had our booth manned before the lunch telling others about who we are and what SAME stands for.  Many thanks to Melissa Kelly-Secretary, Ann Ewy-President, Tim Barnes, Kim Pemberton and Tom Poer. 

The Command and General Staff College (CGSC), the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) - Kansas City Post, and the United States Army Engineer School (USACE) welcomed the incoming class14-02 Engineer student officers to the Kansas City area early in 2014.  This was the forth joint event to welcome new CGSC Engineer student officers, and each year SAME-KC raises the bar of excellence for this event. 

CGSC, SAME-KC, and USACE coordinated a joint education program focused on re-familiarizing the incoming CGSC Army Engineer students-officers with current Engineer Regimental information and to better prepare them for their year of development at CGSC and future assignments. During Engineer week, the lessons and discussion was focused on multiple tactical related topics including engineer systems update, JTF engineer capabilities, NTC lessons learned, infrastructure development, MDMP for engineers, and offensive and defensive engineer planning.  In addition to the tactical related topics, the student officers were made aware of potential Kansas City area professional development opportunities and USACE operations and future opportunities for field grade officers.   The student officers also had an opportunity to meet with multiple Engineer leaders such as MG Semonite (deputy commander of engineers) and BG Funkhouser (USACE Commandant), USACE-Kansas City District Leaders COL Sexton and Chris Prinslow, and local engineer leaders from local firms such as Black & Veatch, HTNB, JE Dunn, Burns & McDonnell.  During the course of their year at CGSC, selected student officers will also get the chance to exchange ideas with SAME partner engineering firms during the elective period. This Training with Industry Elective will help broaden the student officer's view of engineer operations by learning more about best practices in the engineering industry.

One of the many highlights for the week was the SAME-KC sponsored Engineer social at a local Leavenworth restaurant.   This event introduced the new and current Engineer CGSC students to multiple engineer leaders in both the military and the Kansas City community.  This event provided a solid social venue to interact and share experiences.

Tom Jacobs, Director, Environmental Programs at Mid-America Regional Council

Name, Title and Employer

Matthew Turner, PMP, LEED AP, NCIDQ, Project Manager, Yaeger Architecture, Inc. 

What is your position with Greater Kansas City Post?

I am the Post Treasurer and serve as the Post's Point of Contact for the SAME Architectural Practice Committee.

What is your "day job"?

I serve Yaeger Architecture, Inc. as a project manager and business development lead on Federal sector pursuits. Most recently, I have been working with the Kansas City District USACE on several regional Department of Defense renovation and historic adaptive design projects. In addition to our work regionally, I constantly have an eye out for strategic teaming opportunities that would expand Yaeger's reach. Current Federal projects on Yaeger's boards include; management and design for a new Veterinary Clinic at Fairchild AFB, WA and design support on an Army Reserve Center in West Palm Beach, FL.

How did you become involved with SAME ?

Jerry Adams, SAME Fellow / Mentor / Co-worker at Yaeger Architecture, invited me to the Greater Kansas City Post Sporting Clays event 5 years ago.  I have been hooked ever since!

What role has SAME played in your professional life?

My active participation in SAME has presented multiple opportunities to develop my leadership and management skills. Local, regional and national events for SAME each offer an abundance of interactive training programs. I do not believe I would be the manager I am today without those opportunities.   

What SAME accomplishment are you most proud of?

Being nominated, and subsequently elected, to serve as an officer of the Post last December. It is a responsibility I do not take lightly and I am honored by the opportunity.

What would you like to see the Greater Kansas City Post accomplish in the near future?

I am excited to see the SAME Post continue to expand the opportunities for professional accreditation outside of the realm of engineering. Over the past years, the Post has taken great strides to expand credentialing support to Project Management Professionals and LEED Accredited Professionals.  

What benefits do you see for our community through SAME's work?

Outside of SAME's prime mission of enhancing the public / private relationship in the AEC community, SAME benefits our local community through the organizations, education, and mentoring of secondary / higher education students along with the professional development of young member and seasoned professionals. Additional outreach by the Greater Kansas City Post includes the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering, Ronald McDonald House and increasing support for the Wounded Warriors Program.  

What would you say to an individual thinking about getting involved with Greater Kansas City Post? 

What are you waiting for?! Give me call and I'll show you around, 913-742-8030.