RDECOM salutes Army engineer as STEM Hero

By Frank Misurelli, Picatinny Arsenal Public AffairsJanuary 26, 2016

RDECOM salutes Army engineer as STEM Hero
Shahram Dabiri, or "Shah," as he likes to be called, is being acknowledged by the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center for his outstanding achievement as Picatinny Arsenal's Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. (Jan. 26, 2016) -- Shahram Dabiri, or "Shah," as he likes to be called, is being acknowledged by the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center for his outstanding achievement as Picatinny Arsenal's Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Technology Manager.

The popularity and effectiveness of Picatinny's STEM program has gained the attention of students educators and parents as well as elected officials such as U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who attended the First Robotics event in 2015.

"If everyone had a Sha Dabiri, there would not be a shortage of engineers and scientists in this country," ARDEC Director John Hedderich said. "He is truly amazing."

Dabiri started his government career at Picatinny in 2002 while working at the Cannon Artillery Branch. His love of engineering and his passion for innovative problem solving provided the spark for two patent awards early in his career and obtaining a Six Sigma Black Belt and an Executive Master of Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

This drive to innovate propelled him from the Artillery Branch to the Department of Defense Ordinance Technology Consortium, where he developed novel contract solutions for procurement of prototype technologies and finally to the position of Technology Manager at the ARDEC STEM office under the Human Capital Management Office.

He used his skills and knowledge to expand the office into new outreach areas while maintaining accountability, reliability and customer focus. Over the past few years, Dabiri has expanded the STEM outreach office to nearly 70,000 students in more than 100 New Jersey schools.

Dabiri has trained educators in inquiry-based engineering design and enlisted the support of more than 50 Picatinny scientists and engineers to become active participants in the STEM outreach mission. This has enabled Picatinny to become the most successful STEM program in New Jersey.

Dabiri's story is a series of twists and turns that got him to the United States. He was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1977 and lived during the brutal war between Iran and Iraq. Dabiri and his family left Iran in the 1980s and made their way to upstate New York.

He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University at Buffalo. His first job was in Finland working for a pulp and paper company developing novel methods of recycling products that were considered waste.

At the urging of his cousin's husband, Bill Gardner, he applied to work at Picatinny.

"I am fortunate enough to manage this amazing organization to excite, motivate and engage the best and the brightest local students such that we may have a viable human capital for our future workforce," Dabiri said.

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The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Related Links:

Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center

U.S. Army Materiel Command

Army.mil: Science and Technology News

U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command