The U.S. 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.

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, radio frequency 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, then 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 June 10 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

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.

Learn more at: https://navalhorizons.us.