Base 11

We create strategic (integrated) partnerships between industry, academia and philanthropy, which transform high potential low resources students into the STEM trained talent that industry and our country so desperately need.

Base 11 makes connections between industry, academia and students. Base 11 works with community colleges and high schools to identify high-potential, low-resource students with the ability to excel in STEM, but who otherwise lack the resources necessary to follow that path. Base 11 also works with corporations that need skilled STEM workers, and by listening to them, understands that even the students graduating from college with STEM degrees lack some of the critical skills to hit the ground running in the workforce.  Finally, Base 11 partners with academic institutions to help develop programs -- from workforce development training to academic fellowships -- that prepare students to immediately succeed in the 21st century workforce.

FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS. Base 11 offers paid summer fellowships for community college students to Caltech, UC Irvine, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. During the academic year, Base 11 offers internships for community college students to Caltech and UC Irvine.

STEM ENTREPRENEUR. Base 11 offers a STEM Entrepreneur curriculum, available online and at community colleges, drawing on experts in the field including Darren Hardy, former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. Base 11 partners with third-parties to install Fab Labs on college and high school campuses, and then provides training for instructors to make the most of the space.

BASE 11 SPACE CHALLENGE: The Base 11 Space Challenge is a $1 million+ prize for a student-led university team to design, build, and launch a liquid-propelled, single-stage rocket to an altitude of 100 kilometers (the Karman Line) by December 30, 2021. Annual competitions and prizes mark milestone achievements in the process including design of the liquid-fuel rocket, static testing of the engine, and smaller pop-up innovation challenges to be announced. The biggest purse, which is fully funded, is the $1 million prize for launching the rocket to the edge of space. The mission behind the Base 11 Space Challenge is to dramatically increase the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent in the United States with greater representation and inclusion of women and minorities, while empowering the future workforce with the education and skill-training necessary for jobs in the aerospace and related industries.

AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ACADEMY: The Autonomous Systems Engineering Academy (ASEA) was developed in partnership with the University of California, Irvine. Through a series of hands-on projects, students learn electronics, programming and computer-aided design as they work to design, build and fly their very own drone. The program includes industry-recognized training on state-of-the-art 3D design platforms. Thanks to funding from corporate foundations, the program has been adapted for high schools and community colleges.

DATA ANALYTICS COURSE: A Deloitte Foundation grant to Base 11 funded the development and implementation of a high school course to give students skills to use technology to help solve complex business problems, and to develop competency in data analytics, data-based decision-making and data visualization — skills that are increasingly in demand. The course lasts the full length of an academic year.

INNOVATION CHALLENGES: Competitions co-designed with sponsors and expert innovation challenge design firm, HeroX. The challenges address social impact and technical issues leveraging the power of the crowd for solutions. Competitors have the opportunity to build out proposals, receive feedback, bring their ideas to fruition, win cash prizes and invaluable opportunites with partners and sponsors such as pitching, interviews, mentorship and in-person trips.

Base 11 set a goal to accelerate 11,000 students on their path to the Victory Circle by 2021. Base 11 achieved that goal one year early, having accelerated more than 11,877 students on their pathways to STEM success by 2020.

In 2020, Base 11 launched the Next Frontier Initiative, a bold plan to empower 100,000+ students, early STEM career adults, and STEM entrepreneurs on their pathway to success in Next Frontier industries by 2030.