2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)
New Orleans, Louisiana
February 20, 2022
February 20, 2022
July 20, 2022
Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
19
10.18260/1-2--39102
https://peer.asee.org/39102
573
Kayli Battel is currently a sophomore at Tufts University, majoring in Human Factors Engineering and minoring in Education and Art. One of SiS’s three original founders, she organized, led, marketed, and fundraised the program from 2018-2020, and continues to mentor SiS to this day. As a leader then President of Saguaro’s FRC Robotics team, Kayli led numerous STEM outreach events at local middle and elementary schools, and beyond. The success of the SiS program earned Saguaro’s Robotics Team 4146 their first FRC Chairman’s Award, in 2020. Kayli is one of Junior Achievement’s 2020 Arizona 18 Under 18 award recipients; was chosen as the Scottsdale Charros Female Student of the Year; graduated with distinction from Saguaro’s Math and Science Academy; and was a 2020 Saguaro Valedictorian. Kayli is passionate about STEM and STEAM education for all children, and devotes much time to exploring the interplay between the Art and STEM fields.
Kritin Mandala is currently a junior at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, AZ. His interest in engineering education began when he attended the first Sisters in STEM (SiS) event as a student in 2018. Since then he has become a team leader in Saguaro’s FRC robotics club and Sisters in STEM initiative. Kritin is a co-founder of Saguaro’s CyberSiS program which is an offshoot of SiS that aims to teach students in grades K-6 about cybersecurity. He is also leading a team of high school students in writing, illustrating, and publishing an innovative children’s book series focused on STEM and cooperative principles.
Dr. Sreyoshi Bhaduri is an Engineering Educator and Research Scientist. She currently serves as a Senator at the Society of Women Engineers - a global not-for-profit organization with over 40,000 global members and the world's largest advocate for women in engineering and technology. Dr. Bhaduri has an interdisciplinary expertise with a Ph.D. in Engineering Education and Masters degrees in Statistics and Mechanical Engineering, from Virginia Tech. Her research interests include: future of work, women in technology, assessing the impact and effectiveness of inclusion and diversity initiatives as well as employing innovative, ethical and inclusive mixed-methods research approaches to uncovering insights about the 21st century workforce.
Natalie Foster is a current high school senior at Saguaro in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is the president of the school’s FRC robotics club and has been a member of the team since her freshman year. During her time on the team she has served as an outreach representative as well as a lead engineer. Through her involvement with Sabercat robotics she was introduced to the Sisters in STEM. Natalie has been the director of Sisters in STEM since the fall of 2020, overseeing the initiative’s online transition during the pandemic. She is also a founder of a spin off program called CyberSIS, which was launched in the Spring of 2020.
Lilianny Virguez is an Instructional Assistant Professor at the Engineering Education Department at University of Florida. She holds a Masters' degree in Management Systems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. She has work experience in telecommunications engineering and teaches undergraduate engineering courses such as engineering design and elements of electrical engineering. Her research interests include the intersection of core non-cognitive skills and engineering students’ success.
CFO Battel Engineering
President/Board Member Parent Board Scottsdale Math & Science Academy AZ
Past Treasurer Board of Directors All Saints' Episcopal Day School AZ
Past Program Manager Honeywell Aerospace AZ
Past Supervisor Price Waterhouse CA
In this paper, we use an auto-ethnographic approach to describe first-hand the reflections and learnings from leading an organization to help school children, especially girls, familiarize themselves with STEM and Cyber Security. The primary authors and ethnographers are founders of STEM initiatives for young learners. The primary author is a recent high school graduate who has taken up an engineering field, and two other contributing authors are high-schoolers currently leading these initiatives. With help from the three engineering educators on our authorship team, we use our individual self-narratives to develop a set of recommendations for other young engineering educators across the globe looking to start their own initiatives.
Battel, K. H., & Mandala, K., & Bhaduri, S., & Foster, N. A., & Virguez, L., & Erickson, L., & Pakala, K. (2022, February), Auto-ethnographic Reflections : Lessons from Leading a STEM Initiative for Girls in School While We Ourselves Were in School Paper presented at 2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/1-2--39102
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2022 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015