Spare Parts: Re-Inventing Engineering Education for the 21st Century @ NSTA 2018

Fredi Lajvardi will open this two-hour featured presentation and panel with an engaging story about how he led a group of high school teenagers to achieve the impossible—defeating leading universities in an underwater robotics competition.
 
Then we will hear from engineering education pioneer Woodie Flowers, who co-founded FIRST Robotics Competition along with Dean Kamen. Completing our panel will be Craig Forest, founder of the acclaimed Georgia Tech Invention Studio; Lonnie Johnson, former NASA spacecraft engineer and inventor of the Super Soaker; and Danielle Newman, executive director of Kell Robotics. The moderator will be Ed Barker, the 2011 NSTA Faraday Award recipient.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Forum moderator: Ed Barker, Executive Director, Kell Robotics, and Assistant Director for Research Technology and High-Performance Computing, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
 
Panelists:
  • Woodie Flowers, Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Distinguished Partner at Olin College. This year, he was inducted into the STEM Hall of Fame.
  • Craig Forest, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and founder of The Invention Studio, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
  • Lonnie G. Johnson, Inventor of the Super Soaker, former Air Force and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer, and founder and President of Johnson Research and Development Co., Atlanta. Ga.
  • Danielle Newman, Executive Director of the Kell Robotics Team, Kell Robotics, Kennesaw, Ga.
 

 Science in the Community Forum

National Conference: March 15–18, 2018

Georgia World Congress Center

 

Forum Host : Ed Barker

Ed Barker is the recipient of the 2011 NSTA Faraday Science Communicator Award, and founder and president of the STEM Leadership Foundation, and Executive Director of Kell Robotics. Ed is also the Assistant Director for Research Technology and High-Performance Computing at Kennesaw State University.

 

 

 

 

Fredi Lajvardi

Nationally Recognized STEM Educator & Subject of the Critically Acclaimed Documentary, "Underwater Dreams," and Major Motion Picture, "Spare Parts" as well as the IMAX film "Dream Big"

https://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/fredi-lajvardi

 

 

Dr. Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie G. Johnson invented the massively popular Super Soaker water gun. Johnson is a former Air Force and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer supporting the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn.

https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/making-a-big-splash-with-the-super-soaker/

Dr. Johnson’s firm, Johnson Research & Development, houses several FIRST Robotics, FIRST Tech Challenge,and FIRST LEGO Robotics teams from inner city Atlanta.

 

 

 

Dr. Woodie Flowers

Dr. Woodie Flowers is the Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Distinguished Partner at Olin College. The FIRST Robotics Competition was founded by Dean Kamen and Dr. Flowers. Dr. Flowers helped create MIT's renowned course "Introduction to Design." He also received national recognition in his role as host for the PBS television series Scientific American Frontiers from 1990 to 1993 and received a New England EMMY Award for a special PBS program on design.

 

                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u0EUFUL9ZA

                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F84LtXvLTtA

 

Forest Dr. Craig Forest

Dr. Forest is an Associate Professor and founder of the 3,000-square-foot Invention Studio at Georgia Tech. Invention Studio turns creative thinkers into hands-on doers. “The Invention Studio has fundamentally changed the culture at Georgia Tech,”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOsX6xKdqzQ

http://www.news.gatech.edu/features/invention-studio

 

 

Danielle Newman

Danielle Newman is the Executive Director of the Kell Robotics Team, which is an organization of high school students that participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition. The team works extensively to support the growth and expansion of the Informal STEM Learning Eco-systems.

Danielle is a high school senior at Kennesaw Mountain High School, and is a research intern at Kennesaw State University, conducting research on Graphene Polymer Microelectromechanical systems, using HPC, or supercomputer simulations. She is a Community Liaison for The Kennesaw State University Presidential Commission on Gender and Work Life Issues where she focuses on engaging women in technology and highlighting STEM programs, a lifelong Girl Scout, serving as an Ambassador for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, a participant in FIRST since 6th grade, and co-President of the Georgia Department of Education’s FIRST CTSO, as statewide initiative that introduces FIRST Robotics Competitions to high school students statewide. 

                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0w9jkig274