About This Stamp
These stamps celebrate the role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in keeping our nation a global leader in innovation while recognizing the importance of STEM in providing new opportunities for all Americans to learn and explore the world.
Designed to pique the curiosity of the viewer, each stamp features a collage of faces, symbols, drawings, and numbers that represent the complexity and interconnectedness of the STEM disciplines.
In an increasingly competitive world, proficiency in the STEM fields is more critical than ever. Concerned about government studies that project a lack of qualified citizens to fill STEM jobs in the years ahead, a coalition of federal agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and educators has called for improving and expanding education in these fields. Citizens proficient in STEM make valuable contributions to society in areas as diverse as commerce, health care, the environment, and national security. Proponents of wider access to STEM education also point out these fields directly benefit individuals by fostering valuable problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that apply to everyday life.
Artist David Plunkert worked with art director Antonio Alcalá to create these stamps.
These stamps were issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director and Typographer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Artist, Stamp Designer
Dave Plunkert
Award-winning graphic designer Dave Plunkert co-founded the graphic design and illustration firm, Spur, in 1995, a few years after graduating from Shepherd University with a BFA in graphic design.
Operating out of renovated warehouse space in Baltimore, the firm has produced design and illustration work that has been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, and The New York Art Directors’ Club. Plunkert is on the adjunct faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art and lectures at other institutions and AIGA chapters throughout the U.S. His work has been honored with gold medals from the Society of Illustrators NY. In 2016, the Library of Congress chose for their permanent collection more than 50 posters designed by Plunkert for Theatre Project Baltimore.
His diverse clients include, among others, Adidas, Adobe, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Capitol Records, Johns Hopkins University, MTV Networks, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Nickelodeon, and Nike. Plunkert designed and illustrated the hardcover book “Edgar Allen Poe: Stories and Poems” for Rockport Press in 2014 and \"Frankenstein: The 200th Anniversary Edition\" in 2017.
STEM Education (2018) is his first project for the U.S. Postal Service®.
Plunkert lives in Baltimore County with his wife and partner Joyce Hesselberth, their three children, two cats, and eight chickens.