A new £500,000 education centre designed to inspire young people in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects opened at London Stansted Airport this week.
Aerozone Stansted, MAG’s (Manchester Airports Group) flagship community project, aims to boost skills in STEM subjects and attract over 5,000 young people to the centre by 2016. The learning hub will explore the airport’s history and show visitors the range of careers that are available in aviation.
“The aim of the centre is to inspire young people to consider the varied careers within aviation, focusing on the vital STEM subjects that generate real prospects for young people and open their eyes to the fantastic opportunities available on their doorstep.”
Andrew Harrison, Managing Director, Stansted Airport
STEM project supported by the community
Almost 20 businesses and organisations, including Boeing and Essex County Council, have joined forces with the airport to support the Aerozone project by offering sponsorship and materials to equip the centre.
“As a growing aerospace company Boeing has an increasing need for engineers. Educational facilities like the Stansted Aerozone play an important role in inspiring young people at an early stage to study STEM subjects and take an interest in aviation. Boeing is a proud supporter of the Aerozone and we will work together to ensure as many schools and students as possible benefit from its facilities.”
Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing and Ireland
“As a major employer in the region it’s great to see that Stansted Airport is making this investment to inspire young people and broaden their interest in STEM subjects,”
David Williams, Area Director Business in the Community (BiTC)
Live science and engineering STEM university project
Another project in the county helping develop STEM technology is currently being undertaken at the University of Essex. Scientists have created a first-of-its-kind virtual engineering laboratory which enables engineers to work on the same project at the same time wherever they are in the world.
Trials were co-ordinated with the Instituto Tecnológico de León in Mexico, which has thousands of Mexican students studying STEM subjects in almost 300 locations; a key factor in showing that distance is no longer a barrier to STEM laboratory work.
Creating a global workforce
The project’s aim is to bring together businesses that have their workforce scattered across the world together to collaborate on live science and engineering work online.
“This technology has the potential to significantly change in a positive way the future of our lifestyles, where there is no longer the need to always travel to a central spot achieve great things.”
Professor Vic Callaghan, Project Supervisor
The five-year project is being funded by King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia and has so far led to over 30 research papers and two patent applications.
Source [University of Essex] [Stansted Airport]
