Attention, Science Fans! Naval STEM Launches Newest Naval Horizons Essay Contest

The Department of the Navy’s (DoN) Naval STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) program has gone live with the newest iteration of its popular Naval Horizons student essay contest for high school and college students.

First launched in 2020, Naval Horizons is a STEM educational video series from the DoN’s Naval STEM Coordination Office, located at the Office of Naval Research (ONR). It is a collection of more than 55 videos highlighting scientists and engineers, including active-duty military personnel, working within the DoN.

It aims to broaden the awareness of real-world science and technology challenges facing the Navy and Marine Corps today — and help illuminate the many pathways to STEM careers.

“Every year since we first launched Naval Horizons, we’ve tried to get better by listening to feedback from our teacher and educator partners, as well as student participants, in order to make the contest more engaging and compelling,” said Sandy Landsberg, who is both the Naval STEM Coordination Office executive and a division director in ONR’s Command, Control, Computing, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (C5ISRT) Department.

“We look forward to introducing participants to a new cadre of naval experts who will discuss the educational and career paths that led them to working on fascinating science and technology efforts supporting the Department of the Navy.”

The DoN’s Naval STEM Coordination Office oversees investments in education, outreach and workforce initiatives. This enables the U.S. to cultivate the technical workforce needed to keep the Navy and Marine Corps on the leading edge of scientific and technological innovation.

Each Naval Horizons contest adds new online videos to the existing set. Students may choose to learn about any topic in the complete video collection, which covers a variety of research areas — including biotechnology, epidemiology and public health, laser sensors, machine learning, microscopy, radiofrequency and antennas, space weather and more. In each video, naval scientists and engineers discuss the applicability of their work.

For the essay contest, high school and college students are invited to learn about naval research topics by watching one or more videos. They then are encouraged to submit an essay that explains how they’re inspired by naval research and the naval workforce — and provide a futurist vision of the Navy and Marine Corps.

The essay contest will close Monday, June 10, at 11:59 PM ET. Judges will select up to 5,000 winners, all of whom will be eligible to receive a $200 cash prize. Exceptional essays will be designated Naval Horizons Highest Honors and highlighted on the website at https://navalhorizons.us.

“For the last four years, Naval Horizons has served as a valuable platform for encouraging students to envision themselves in STEM careers solving tough naval technical challenges,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus. “Naval Horizons will enable the Department of the Navy to better equip the Sailors and Marines we have the privilege of serving, with superior technology.”

Those interested in learning about the Naval Horizons essay contest should visit https://navalhorizons.us. While this contest is designed specifically for high school and college students, everyone is invited to watch the videos related to Naval STEM. The complete Naval Horizons video library, available on the Naval Horizons website, has over 42,000 views.

Warren Duffie Jr. is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications.