News and Insights

A Decade of Inspired STEM Learning

August 21, 2025

How the U.S. Army’s AEOP portfolio is shaping America’s experiential learning opportunities

If our future depends on the curiosity, resilience, and know-how of today’s young people, it depends on efforts like the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP), a national initiative funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) that expands access to free, high-quality STEM experiences for students, educators, and early career professionals across the country.

For the past decade, FINN’s Global Education Practice has had the privilege of supporting AEOP’s marketing and strategic communications work as part of a national consortium of partners focused on nurturing homegrown STEM talent. Offering access to hands-on research at U.S. Army-funded labs, science competitions, paid internships and fellowships, and deeper learning opportunities for teachers, AEOP opens doors for young people and educators to explore what’s possible in STEM—and gain real-world experience along the way.

We’ve shared powerful stories of STEM innovation—supporting communications efforts across programs that reach tens of thousands of students and educators nationwide each year. We have celebrated their work, and brought attention and access to regional and national activities of immersive and experiential STEM opportunities that make kids say, “I want to be an engineer,” or “I am a scientist,” and then help them chart the path to make it happen. 

Hands-On Inspiration

Over the years, we’ve seen high schoolers conduct original research at university and Army labs and middle schoolers dive into drone design, biomedical engineering and 3D printing through summer programs like GEMS and Unite. At eCYBERMISSION’s annual National Judging & Educational Event, we watched for a decade as teams pitched amazing ideas and solutions to real-world problems, like a device to support individuals with Alzheimer’s or a method to use chia seeds to remove microplastics from drinking water.

The stories are compelling and personal, as unique as every student and educator who takes part in an AEOP program. While it’s hard to pick from a decade’s worth of highlights, here are some standouts: 

Sibling Love and College Scholarships. When his sister was sad that her drone had such a short battery life, a Connecticut high school student designed a drone so innovative the Department of Defense awarded him $23,000 in scholarships. His 3D-printed drone earned him 2nd place in Engineering and Technology in the 2025 Junior Science and Humanities Symposium—a national DoD-funded competition that invites high school students to submit their original STEM research for a chance to earn scholarships and recognition.  

Buzzing with Solutions. While participating in the 2020 AEOP Alumni Challenge, Bee Remarkable, a New Jersey high school student heard about the collapsing bee population in her town and decided to educate her local community about the importance of protecting the bees. She went on to earn the New Jersey Honey Queen title from the NJ Beekeepers Association. The passion for educating her peers led her to start the AEOP Profiles in STEM series, where she interviewed various STEM professionals about their career journeys.

Fighting Breast Cancer. One Georgia high school student researched and developed a better way to detect triple-negative breast cancer after her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, earning national recognition for her work. Her potentially lifesaving research earned her 1st place in the 2025 Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

The Need for (Solar) Speed. Three home-schooled tween sisters from New Jersey worked as a team to build the fastest solar-powered car they could come up with. The results: beating all the other cars across the finish line in the 2025 national Junior Solar Sprint competition–where fifth through eighth graders form teams to design, build and race solar-powered cars. 

Learning with Robots and AI. In 2024, one elementary school science teacher from Arizona spent his summer in an Army lab researching AI and its applications for human-robot hybrid technologies. He then designed a classroom lesson inspired by the film “The Wild Robot” to explore prosthetics and AI through AEOP’s Research Experiences for STEM Educators and Teachers program–which invites educators to spend the summer conducting research, then apply what they have learned to new lesson plans for their classrooms.

Preparing Problem-Solvers

Programs like AEOP matter. They give students early exposure to fields and career paths they might never encounter in their day-to-day lives. They give teachers the chance to bring cutting-edge science into their classrooms and to deepen their content knowledge alongside top scientists and engineers. They give early career STEM professionals unparalleled university lab experience that builds their competitiveness in the job market.

AEOP is also deeply imbued with the ideals of service, core to the very ethos of the U.S. Army and our armed services more broadly. Many of the AEOP mentors and team leaders are active duty or retired military personnel, working to give back and inspire the next generation. Together, the AEOP offerings remind us that STEM isn’t just about the next big invention—it’s about curiosity, problem-solving, resilience, teamwork and service–invaluable tenets for everyone, no matter their career path.

STEM isn’t just about the next big invention—it’s about curiosity, problem-solving, resilience, teamwork and service–invaluable tenets for everyone, no matter their career path. 

AEOP is more than feel-good stories. It’s real experiential learning in action. When students have the space to experiment, collaborate, mess up and try again, and be taken seriously—they show up. The future STEM workforce is already taking shape in classrooms, on research teams, and in labs all over our country–maybe even in your own backyard.

There is a range of opportunities available through AEOP—a program driven by students and educators and powered by a mission that continues to invest in what matters: real-world STEM experiences that spark curiosity, build skills, and open doors.