STEM Our State (SOS) is inspiring the youth of the U.S. — starting with the Appalachian region, and in particular, West Virginia — to become more involved in STEM-related fields
Adien Aggarwal
Adien Aggarwal is the Head of Marketing at SOS. He plans on making sure that the word gets out of our amazing program in order to reach more people.
Ataes Aggarwal
Ataes Aggarwal is the President and Co-Founder of SOS. He has been interested in STEM since he was a kid and has taken his passions to helping his home state of West Virginia and places similar that are falling behind in a global STEM-driven economy.
Owen Gerdes
Owen Gerdes is the Head of Event Planning at SOS. He works with SOS team members and others to help ensure each event is well-executed.
About SOS
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Who We Are
We are patriotic citizens and students with personal investments in preparing our community for the high pace of change that technology and innovation are bringing to the world.
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The Problem
WV has multiple challenges in progressing with technological advancements that are inevitable in tomorrow's economy.
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WV has the lowest percentage of college-educated residents of any state in the U.S.
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WV suffers from "brain drain" as people in the US are willing to move more than any other country in the world (https://www.jec.senate.gov/) and WV has the lowest percentage of 18-25-year-old residents
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What We Are Doing
There are multiple solutions that must be initiated in conjunction with one another to solve these problems, but the STEM Our State (SOS) organization believes that one large piece of the puzzle is increasing interest in STEM fields.
The SOS initiative accomplishes this in multiple ways, starting by hosting speakers from STEM fields and encouraging citizens (especially students) to interact with these speakers to form meaningful relationships with the content and speakers themselves.
