PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- Shahram Dabiri, or "Shah," as he likes to be called, was recently acknowledged by the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) for his outstanding achievement as Picatinny's Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Technology Manager.
The popularity and effectiveness of Picatinny's STEM program has gained the attention of not only students, educators and parents but also various elected officials such as U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who attended the First Robotics event in 2015.
"If everyone had a Shah Dabiri, there would not be a shortage of engineers and scientists in this country," said John Hedderich, Director of ARDEC. "He is truly amazing."
Dabiri started his government career at Picatinny in the spring of 2002. His career began at the cannon artillery branch, where he worked on a variety of artillery systems.
His love of engineering and his passion for innovative problem solving provided the spark for two patent awards early on in his career and obtaining a Six Sigma Black Belt and an Executive MBA 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.
And it is at Picatinny Arsenal where he utilized his learned 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 office outreach to nearly 70,000 students in over 100 local schools in New Jersey.
Dabiri himself, has trained numerous educators in inquiry based engineering design and enlisted the support of more than 50 top notch Picatinny scientists and engineers to become active participants in the STEM outreach mission.
This has enabled Picatinny to become the most successful and sought after STEM program in New Jersey.
Dabiri's story is a series of twists and turns in his life 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, which included the bombing of cities.
FROM IRAN TO UPSTATE NEW YORK
Dabiri and his family left Iran in the mid 80s and eventually made their way to a small upstate New York town.
After graduating high school and obtaining 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.
Corporate mergers brought him back to the U.S.
At the urging of his cousin's husband, Bill Gardner, he applied to work at Picatinny, where he not only found his calling but also a new family.
Dabiri says of his good fortune, "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 work force."
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U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center
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