Over 100 students and teachers from several Bay Area high schools – including Antioch High School, Berkeley High School, Latitude High School (in Oakland), and Richmond High School – visited Berkeley Lab on February 12 for an engineering-focused High School STEM Day event hosted by Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education and Outreach Program in partnership with the Engineering and Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Divisions, and the African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG).
“The Berkeley Lab Engineering Division is the epitome of one of the Lab’s founding principles – Team Science – where the precise, considered work of highly collaborative teams of engineers and scientists come together to build experiments and facilities that enable cutting-edge science and technology,” said Rebecca Carney, an engineer in the Electronics, Software, and Instrumentation Department who coordinated event. “Our event was structured to demystify the complexities of Big Science while emphasizing the importance of effective teamwork, with an active invitation for students to consider careers in science and engineering as they move forward in their education.”
To encourage more student engagement and participation, this year’s event featured expanded career networking sessions as well as a new ‘Showcase Exhibition,’ in which small groups of 3-4 students explored booths highlighting Berkeley Lab science and technology, and the Lab-wide engineering efforts that support them. Students engaged directly with their volunteer hosts, who represented a variety of expertise areas and engineering roles, including machinists, radio frequency (RF) engineers, mechanical CAD specialists, project managers, and electronics engineers. With abundant opportunities for direct communication and one-on-one interviews with staff members, students could ask questions about everything from new technologies to making good career choices and then engage at their own pace and according to their individual interests.
The students also toured the Advanced Light Source (ALS), the Engineering Division’s Mechanical Fabrication Machine Shop, and the Superconducting Magnet Program’s magnet assembly and testing facilities (for a program of science presentations and demonstrations focused on particle accelerator science organized jointly with the ATAP Division), to learn how their one-on-one ‘Showcase’ experiences translated into these working scientific environments. For example, after learning how to read and analyze load-bearing simulations, the students visited the ALS to see how engineers use these simulations to design and build new support structures that must be carefully integrated into the newly upgraded facility being constructed there. And after learning how to read dimension and tolerance values on a fabrication drawing, the students visited the Machine Shop to see how machinists translate these drawings into precision manufactured parts and instrumentation for projects spanning the Lab’s research portfolio. While touring the superconducting magnet test facility, students learned how particle accelerators work and how the superconducting magnets for accelerators are constructed.
Caption: Faith Dukes speaks to students and staff gathered in the Building 50 Auditorium. Credit: Photo by Robinson Kuntz, Berkeley Lab
Students were also treated to a special lunchtime presentation by Faith Dukes, director of Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education and Outreach Program, who spoke about her personal academic journey in STEM as part of the AAERG’s 2025 Black History Month Speaker Series. “These collaborative efforts capture the essence of STEM Day and highlight the teamwork of so many at the Lab,” said Dukes. “Each month, we work closely with facilities and staff members from across the Lab to make these events happen, and over 400 students have participated in the STEM Day events since October. I’m excited about the partnership we share and the opportunity to work together to inspire more young people to pursue careers in STEM research.”
“This event was another great success, and it was a privilege to work with so many incredible staff volunteers, whose contributions and enthusiasm for sharing their work have such a meaningful impact on the students,” said Elina Dluger Rios, K-12 STEM Special Programs and Volunteer Training Manager. Dluger Rios partnered with this event’s program coordinators – including Carney; AAERG Chair Stacy Curry, a program manager in the Building Technology & Urban Systems Division; and ATAP Division Deputy for Operations, Asmita Patel – and all extend their thanks to our team of staff volunteers, including career networking hosts and showcase presenters Brian Bentley, Alisa Bettale, Christopher Bullock, Tobias Griesemer, Rick Kraft, Kwadwo Kumi-Amankwah, Keith Penney, Deepa Rasalkar, Joe Silber, and Tim Villabona; tour guides and presenters Paolo Ferracin, Jose Luis Rudeiros Fernandez, Ina Reichel, Anjana Saravanan, and Daniel Schow; and the event’s onsite student chaperones Annemarie Del Bene, Dee Pickett, and Jeff Boyle.
Berkeley Lab’s K-12 STEM Education and Outreach Program hosts monthly High School STEM Days for local Bay Area public high school students interested in visiting the Lab to explore STEM research and related careers, network and participate in job shadowing with Lab employees, and learn about summer programs and internship opportunities at Berkeley Lab. Financial support for this program is provided by Wareham Development and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Pathway Summer School (PSS) initiative. Visit the High School STEM Days website to learn more and to receive updates about upcoming programs and opportunities.
