STEM Engagement

The DOE former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Pike County, Ohio is being transformed into a mega-technology center with billions of dollars of private investment recently announced. Since 2010, the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service’s PORTSfuture Program has been supporting the decommissioning mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE EM) and the redevelopment mission of the DOE-designated community reuse organization, known as the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), to advance this effort.

PORTSfuture Program Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) engagement activities are designed to encourage regional students to learn about and engage in activities in STEM disciplines to spark their imaginations and interests in these fields. The goal is to encourage students to pursue careers in these in-demand STEM fields that provide well-paying employment opportunities and especially to encourage students to pursue jobs being created as part of the PORTS site redevelopment.