Ladies and gentleman, start your engines! NIWC Atlantic's STEM team waved the green flag on an exciting summer of learning with a kick-off event Memorial Day weekend at the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. STEM volunteers assisted nearly 400 kids in constructing balloon-powered racecars as part of the Speed Street STEAM Expo. Interested students also took their interaction a mile further with the AWS DeepRacer technology by programming remote control cars to learn a race course.

"Using AWS DeepRacer, we've created a highway that leads directly from machine learning curiosity to competency," said Robert Keisler, NIWC Atlantic Data Science & Analytics SSTM. "It's a tool that turns the theory of artificial intelligence (AI) into an engaging, hands-on experience, accessible to all skill levels. It's not just a training ground for our workforce, but a launching pad for anyone interested in STEM."

The U.S. Navy's support for the event was a collaborative effort between the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Naval STEM Coordination Office (NSCO) and the Chief of Information and the Office of Information (CHINFO) Community Outreach. This first-time opportunity was staffed by STEM volunteers from NAVWAR NIWC Atlantic, along with NAVAIR FRC East and NAVSEA NSWC Philadelphia.