High school students gain an appreciation for the

High school students gain an appreciation for the difficulties of working in a contaminated environment by first conducting a chemical experiment in simple lab coats (foreground) and then conducting the same experiment wearing the hot, bulky Level A hazmat suits (background) that troops must wear in dangerous situations. The students are participating in the Joint Science and Technology Institute (JSTI) event at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The two-week JSTI-Albuquerque course is full of high impact STEM-focused projects involving design and telemetry, microbiology, synthetic biology and STEM application. The intent of JSTI is to expose students to the importance of STEM and to inspire them to pursue like-academics fueled by hands-on, relevant research. (DTRA Photo by Luis Palacios)