Strategic Systems Programs’ STEM Team Attends the DOD STEM Technical Exchange

10 December 2025

From Thomas Jones

WASHINGTON – Members of the Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) team attended the 2025 Department of Defense (DOD) STEM Technical Exchange in September, a multi-day gathering of leaders from industry, government, and academia, to explore innovative and effective strategies to build-up STEM talent across the United States.

Dr. Gregory Bouton, SSP’s STEM federal action officer, said attending these broader STEM events help improve the command’s own STEM programs.

“The purpose of the exchange is for DOD, education, and industry professionals to get together and discuss innovation and strategy for continued STEM outreach, as well as to build relationships that will help maintain continuity within the program,” Bouton said. “Taking the opportunity to meet with these professionals and build those relationships ourselves improves our future outreach efforts, keeps us up-to-date with innovations in STEM, and lets us gain inspiration from – and inspire – the operations of other organizations.”

As the Navy command responsible for the cradle-to-grave life cycle of the U.S. strategic weapon system, SSP is proactively recruiting the best and brightest minds. Events like this support the SSP STEM team in maintaining a robust STEM program and understanding how it can continue to improve its overall talent pipeline.

“STEM outreach is the tool that lets us create seamless pathways from STEM education to careers within SSP, creating a continuous flow of talent to fill critical roles, address skill shortages, and strengthen SSP’s succession planning capabilities,” Bouton said. “Through STEM outreach we are able to inspire STEM-minded students to consider SSP as a future employer.”

Edvin Hernandez, a public affairs specialist at the command and liaison with SSP’s STEM team, said that attending events like this help keep SSP public affairs on top of the STEM environment.

“As a communicator for SSP, this tech exchange provided us the opportunity to learn more about the naval STEM communications plan and the changes being made to adapt for the future. This includes learning about upcoming key events, new tags for recruitment, and understanding the goals for naval STEM. Being here provides a unique opportunity to better support our command STEM office and align our recruitment priorities with the DOD and naval STEM mission.”

Hernandez says these events are also invaluable for other DOD commands and educators, offering accessible, low-cost STEM activities that many simply don’t know about.

“During our breakout sessions, several STEM educators shared their challenges with lack of resources,” he said. “While teachers have all these brilliant ideas on how to engage their classroom, they are limited by their funding. Luckily, Navy STEM directors were able to point to budget friendly, cost-effective supplies and lesson plans that can be incorporated in the classroom. While some schools don’t have the means to do extravagant field trips or high-end STEM projects, the Navy develops guides and booklets that support hands-on STEM learning and offer exciting STEM engagement for any student and teacher in the classroom. That’s a major perk of these conferences – the knowledge sharing is so valuable.”

Each day of the event was broken into sessions ranging from exchange-wide panels to interactive, small-group discussions, all of which are built around the core strands that reflect the DOD’s commitment to innovation and impact in STEM education and workforce development. Led by experts across many STEM fields, each session exposed attendees to new insights that covered every part of a successful STEM program, including outreach, participation, and evaluation.

According to Bouton, he gained insights that he now plans to incorporate into SSP’s STEM program moving forward.

“One particular insight I gained during a breakout session was how to properly conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis for our partnerships,” he said. “In addition to seeing your current partnerships, employing a proper analysis helps to improve those partnerships, and gives you an effective framework from which to build new partnerships.”

Hernandez said he was glad to have the opportunity to take away some insights of his own, and further emphasized the necessity of such an exchange.

“As a communicator for the command, learning about the DOD’s strategic framework gives us an advantage in tailoring our recruitment message effectively,” Hernandez said. “These tech exchanges allow our staff to network with other leading STEM directors across the country and provide a valuable learning opportunity for our team to see what’s been working in the classroom, on field trips, and at other excursions – to learn about activities that introduce STEM learning to K-12 students.”

SSP maintains an expansive STEM program, and is always looking to form new connections and develop new techniques to bring to schools not only within local communities, but wherever the program can reach. This program continues to support many educational activities, ranging from individual engagements with students to supporting school-wide participation in robotics competitions across the nation.

“SSP has six STEM engagement teams that span the United States. Each of the teams are involved in communities both around their general location and beyond,” Bouton said. “They each support STEM outreach in different ways, germane to the needs of local educators, while also maintaining an emphasis on what each local command does as an organization, from model rockets to underwater robotics.”

It's these engagement efforts, Hernandez said, that leads SSP to recruit the best and brightest minds that will carry SSP’s baton into the future.

“Engaging with students early and introducing them to STEM through interactive classroom activities supports their curiosity in technical fields,” Hernandez said. “As the innovators of the Navy’s strategic weapon system, enticing the next generation of leading STEM professionals will ensure our command is equipped with the best minds, keeping our Navy the most dominant in the world; and that all starts at the grassroot level, in the classroom, and with inspiring curiosity in STEM careers throughout the Navy.”

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Strategic Systems Programs’ STEM Team Attends the DOD STEM Technical Exchange

From Thomas Jones