[Amicius]

Why isn't Amateur Radio a key part of STEM? What do ALL of us have in our pocket that operates on radio (you might even be reading this comment on one)? How many modern homes don't have WiFi? What's the magic that allows smart-meters and wireless doorbells to work? Heck, what's the signaling mechanism on a WIRED communication? RF and radio is key to so much of modern life that unless your STEM program is geared toward training people to do basic research you're using RF in some capacity along the way.

And not only teach RF but then apply across other things like robotics and flying. One of the major public service aspects of Amateur Radio is emergency communication. Rather than humans trying to word-paint what's happening in a storm why not have a camera-equipped drone zoom out to a vantage point and shoot back HD imagery via 1.2GHz? How about weather stations communicating primarily via APRS instead of via WiFi directly?

So many possibilities... though without low-cost VHF/UHF SDR radios much of this will remain a dream.

[jsjakkanf]

There are lots of courses on wireless communication. I think there's a big community there that doesn't participate in amateur radio. For me there's no reason to build huge antennas and high power, when I can build my low power, high speed WiFi setup in the University lab.

[jimhefferon]

These folks are doing great things: https://www.n1fd.org/

[HenryKissinger]

A lack of qualified instructors would be one reason.

[Amicius]

A lack of MOTIVATED instructors is more accurate. There are more than enough retired HAMs who would love to teach interested students -- they just don't care for digital modes.