Cybersecurity needs more professionals working in the field, and guest Nicole Bushong from Houston shares why. They explain critical issues today in digital crime, cyberwarfare, hacking, public safety, and diversity of the tech workforce. They

Soft and Squishy Robots in the Classroom, with Dr. Holly Golecki

Sep 4th, 2023 48m 22s

Modern robotics can interact with the human body in newer, innovative ways, using flexible materials and compliant actuators. Dr. Holly Golecki, Ph.D., wants to teach young people all about it, recently sharing her team’s K-12 curriculum in sof

Engineering Meat Cruelty-Free, with Dr. Katie Kam

Feb 12th, 2023 28m 19s

Cultivated meat has the potential to disrupt the meat industry, and engineer Dr. Katie Kam joins the podcast to talk about it. Katie founded BioBQ, her startup that’s developing cultivated beef brisket. She explains how cultivated meat – also k

Cybersecurity Awareness Month, with Nicole Bushong

Oct 24th, 2022 1h 42m

As part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, cybersecurity engineer Nicole Bushong shares essential cybersecurity habits and tools for keeping organizations and individuals safe, as well as hot tips for getting into the many parts of this

Solve Real Problems and Win Real Prizes, with Autumn and George Dowdy and Ann Woo

Aug 10th, 2022 56m 46s

The Solve for Tomorrow design competition from Samsung is starting up again, and three guests join the podcast to explain how it works, and why schools and businesses should invest in K-12 STEM education. George Dowdy led his students at Porter

Teaching Coding to the Community with a Small Business, with Amy Pirzada

Jun 30th, 2022 39m 26s

Amy Pirzada started My Coding Place as an educational business focused on teaching coding to kids in Austin. But she soon expanded to teach chess, game design, 3D modeling, 3D printing, and more technical topics in problem-solving to wider audi

The Physics Circus Teaches Science, with Joseph Ziegel

Apr 13th, 2022 29m 28s

The Physics Circus at The University of Texas at Austin tries to attract kids to science using loud and entertaining demonstrations that might not be as accessible to the average school. Led by graduate students doing the latest in physics res

The Science Journal for Kids, with Tanya Dimitrova

Feb 3rd, 2022 48m 58s

Do scientific research articles sometimes sound like another language? To K-12 students, very often it’s yes. Tanya Dimitrova tried to help solve this problem by founding the Scientific Journal for Kids, where her team of writers, designers,

Design Biomolecular Circuits, with Dr. Xiaojing Gao

Dec 14th, 2021 27m 53s

What is synthetic biology? Researcher and professor Dr. Xiaojing Gao introduces this cutting edge field. He explains how his lab at Stanford University engineers biomolecular circuits, which are meant to be programmable, reproducible, and frien

A Video Game for Designing Robots, with Dan White

Nov 22nd, 2021 51m 40s

Learning in robotics doesn’t have to take weeks, if you can design, build, and test a robot in hours in a video game. Dan White, CEO of Filament Games, introduces RoboCo, their game meant to teach principles of robotics to players, from the me

Reach Youth by Listening to Them, with Scott Steward

Sep 12th, 2021 1h 17m

Chicago educator and entrepreneur Scott Steward breaks down his teaching philosophy, rooted in getting to know his students. Steward founded Genius Lab in Chicago, where he teaches young people technology, business, and how to become an adult.

Robotics Competitions after 2021, with Dan Mantz

Aug 6th, 2021 37m 29s

The Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation has been running robotics programs for youth for years, including the widespread global competitions sponsored by VEX Robotics. Dan Mantz is the CEO of the REC Foundation, leading this non

Teach Harder Math and Problem-Solving, with Richard Rusczyk

Jul 13th, 2021 59m 35s

Math is fundamental to engineering education and other disciplines. That’s part of why Richard Rusczyk wants to teach kids harder math than they often see in school. As the CEO of Art of Problem Solving, he wants to challenge more young peopl

Teach 3D Printing, with David Seto and Michael Welch

Jun 17th, 2021 49m 38s

Kids can learn CAD for 3D printing, but teaching it doesn’t have to be a hassle. David Seto and Michael Welch wrote a set of books to make teaching and learning the subject easier. They based it on their own experiences with 3D printing, lear

Trans Engineers You Should Know, with Dr. Ada-Rhodes Short

Jun 2nd, 2021 39m 9s

Mechanical engineer Dr. Ada-Rhodes Short studies robot brains, having previously worked in industry and academia for commercial toy companies, NASA, Texas A&M, and more. She also advocates for diversity and inclusion in education and STEM for

Aiming for Equity in K-12 Computer Science, with Rosemary Kamei

May 25th, 2021 35m 39s

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF) is a nonprofit running several programs in K-12 STEM education, including its Computer Science Institute for middle and high school teachers. Rosemary Kamei is the Chief Development and Innovation

CAD in a Web Browser, with Amanda Hough

Apr 27th, 2021 34m 15s

The pandemic has spurred teachers like Amanda Hough to teach CAD remotely, but how do you do that if students don’t have the hardware to run resource-heavy CAD software? Amanda uses cloud-based CAD platform OnShape, and her students run it in

Better K-12 Engineering Post-COVID, with Dr. Corey Hall

Apr 7th, 2021 45m 49s

STEM curriculum specialist Dr. Corey Hall shares tips and resources for teaching engineering effectively at the K-12 level in 2021, both during and beyond COVID. Corey recommends teaching strategies and products based on her 24 years of experi

How to Change the Education System, with Suzanne Demallie

Mar 19th, 2021 59m 35s

The education system can change top-down, or bottom-up. Author Suzanne DeMallie wrote “Can You Hear Me Now?” – a book about how parents and teachers might change our schools from the bottom-up. She draws on her own experiences in Baltimore Co

Legendary LEDs, with Dr. Russ Dupuis

Mar 5th, 2021 53m 10s

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, have changed the world – and continue to do so. This energy-efficient electronics technology came from decades of design and discovery in engineering. Dr. Russell Dupuis is one of the engineers behind LEDs, and

Teaching HTML/CSS, Unplugged and Offline, with Sam Taylor

Feb 3rd, 2021 39m 50s

How do you learn web development without a computer, or without any electronic device? Sam Taylor wrote a book to help learners do just that. As a former middle school teacher and current tech worker, Sam wrote the newly released educational bo

Aerospace Engineering Entrepreneur, with Mishaal Ashemimry

Jan 22nd, 2021 53m 2s

Mishaal Ashemimry is an aerospace engineer and pilot who, after working for major aerospace organizations, formed her own aerospace startup to design rockets for small, low-Earth orbit satellites. As a Saudi American, she got interested in the

What Do Equations Sound Like on the Piano?

Dec 29th, 2020 49m 29s

Let’s make equations musical. Instead of visualizing equations on a graph, let’s listen to them on the piano, merging all our math and music knowledge. You can make two-dimensional x-y math equations audible – or sonify them – by translating t

Modernizing Army Training in Software and Tech

Nov 19th, 2020 33m 52s

Army Futures Command (AFC) is partnering with Austin Community College (ACC) in Texas to create a new Software Factory, which will be a software development training program for Army soldiers. Planned to start in January, it will blend trainin

How Is School Reopening Going?

Oct 31st, 2020 46m 32s

Schools have reopened in Fall 2020 amid the COVID19 pandemic, and educators are putting in overtime to make it work. Four educators speak about their experiences getting students learning again either online or in person: Superintendent Teddy