At least once a year, the accomplishments celebrated at Heinz Field are a little more cerebral than touchdowns and field goals.

Students participating in the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair take on projects ranging from cancer research to germs to robotics. And in their own way, these kids are splitting the uprights.

"We have some kids who are like way out there on the edge of science," doing doctoral-level work, said Charles Vukotich Jr., adjunct assistant professor and senior project manager at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health,, who has long been involved in the event.

Across the science, technology, engineering and math fields, known as STEM, businesses are pooling resources to ramp-up production of an important commodity: scientifically literate Americans.

The science fair, which will take place April 3 and 4 this year, is open to middle-grade and high-school students in 26 Pennsylvania and West Virginia counties. Sponsors have included Bayer Corp., Michael Baker Corp., PPG Industries and U.S. Steel.

Now in its 70th year, the science fair is just one example of corporate intervention in STEM education.

Businesses long have offered scholarships and internships to college students. They also offer financial and technical assistance to university STEM programs.

The interest in K-12, or pre-college, education for some businesses is more recent, spurred in part by concerns about shortages in high-tech fields and the quality of K-12 science education.

"Some of it is altruism," Mr. Vukotich said of the corporations' involvement. "No. 2 is, this is their future work force."

Industry acknowledges the self-interest. "Science is our livelihood," noted Rebecca Lucore, executive director of Bayer USA Foundation.

Bayer last year surveyed 100 executives at Fortune 1000 companies involved in science and engineering fields. Ninety-eight said it's important for business to support K-12 education; 87 said they already do so.

In addition, 55 of the 100 executives gave a "D" or "F" to the K-12 education system's efforts to interest girls and minority students in science.

To fortify the employment "pipeline," companies want to hook young students on science at an early age.

They provide teacher training and instructional materials because ill-prepared students won't make it through college -- or do the business sector any good.

Numerous companies are reaching directly into classrooms with ASSET Inc., which provides a science curriculum, teacher training and materials to 164 school districts, charter schools and private schools.

Bayer and other partners founded ASSET -- Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching -- in 1994. In addition to various companies, ASSET now is supported by the state Department of Education and fees paid by participating schools and districts.

On a recent Monday, third-graders at Avonworth Elementary tackled an ASSET-created lesson on rocks and minerals.

On teacher Melissa Cwynar's cue, students opened egg cartons of "mystery minerals" and studied their texture, smell, size and weight. Magnifying glasses, included in the supplies provided by ASSET, allowed a close-up view.

"Mrs. Cwynar, you can see through letter D," student Owen Miller said.

" 'D' is for diamonds," Isabel Talarico said.

Mrs. Cwynar didn't identify "D" or any of the other minerals. Students will figure out which is which through future "field testing."

Mrs. Cwynar, who's been teaching the ASSET program for eight years, praised the hands-on learning style that she said allows students to act as scientists. She said the program relies less on memorization than critical thinking, the kind of skill demanded by employers.

Teachers trained by ASSET reported increased confidence in the classroom, according to a 2007 study by Horizon Research Inc. In addition, the study found that the more training teachers had, the better students performed on program tests.

Students in ASSET-trained classrooms are outperforming peers on the state science test, the group says.

On last year's test, for example, Avonworth's fourth-graders beat the average in an important category. About 53 percent of Avonworth's fourth-graders scored at the advanced level, compared to about 40 percent of fourth-graders statewide.

At the high-school level, Catalyst Connection's Adventures in Technology program assigns teams of students to companies to help with management or production problems.

"It's not some made-up or what-if kind of scenario," said Susan Sunseri, gifted education coordinator at Franklin Regional High School, who praised the program for giving students a first-hand look at workplace challenges.

Catalyst Connection, in Hazelwood, is a nonprofit group with the goal of helping businesses become more competitive.

Through the program, Franklin Regional students have tackled assembly line problems for Murrysville-based Philips Respironics, a medical equipment company.

North Hills High School students have recommended improvements in shipping and receiving to McKesson Corp, a health-care company in Cranberry. And Hampton High School students developed an internal Web site for MAYA Design Inc. on the South Side.

At Franklin Regional, Ms. Sunseri said, older students function as project managers, assigning roles to younger students and overseeing work. Students volunteer for the teams and receive no grades for the work.

"They just do it because they're interested in it, and they enjoy it," Ms. Sunseri said.

ASSET executive director Reeny Davison said schools over the years haven't emphasized science as much as they could have.

Programs such as ASSET, Adventures in Technology and the regional science fair hope to open students' eyes to the possibility of science careers -- or at least allow students to stretch their minds and imaginations.

With a chuckle, Mr. Vukotich recalled the "very stylish" eighth-grade girl who wondered whether the hair spray she used was harming the beloved house plants in her room.

So she set up an experiment, exposing some plants to hair spray and keeping others away from the stuff. She got a surprising result: The plants exposed to hair spray fared better.