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 soft robotics in The Science Teachermagazine. A professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Golecki teaches bioengineering and engineering design to undergraduates, while also research applications of materials engineering to bioengineering and engineering education. She discusses her pathway to her current focus on engineering education, and her ideas about increasing the diversity of students who can access engineering at younger ages by way of soft robotics.

Related to this episode:

 * Dr. Holly Golecki’s website: https://www.hollygolecki.com/
 * Revolutionizing Robotics: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19434871.2023.12290283
 * Soft Robotics Toolkit: https://softroboticstoolkit.com/
 * UIUC BioE: https://bioengineering.illinois.edu/
 * Drexel Materials Science and Engineering: https://drexel.edu/engineering/academics/departments/materials-science-engineering/
 * Sandia National Labs: https://www.sandia.gov/
 * VEX Robotics competitions: https://www.vexrobotics.com/competition
 * McKibben artificial muscles: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/803170
 * Control Pneumatic Cylinder with Arduino (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXNNjtK5hp8
 * Tim the Nitinol Lepidopterist (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyVGpRjG5-0
 * Mark Rober on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY1kMZp36IQSyNx_9h4mpCg
 * hgolecki on Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/hgolecki
 * Soft Robotics Toolkit Competition: https://softroboticstoolkit.com/competition/requirements

Subscribe and find podcast updates at: http://www.k12engineering.net [http://www.k12engineering.net/]. Support Pios Labs with regular donations on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs. You’ll also be supporting projects like the Engineer’s Guide to Improv and Art Games [https://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Guide-Improv-Art-Games/dp/1520634900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=], The Calculator Gator [http://www.piuswong.com/calculatorgator/], or Chordinates! [https://www.pioslabs.com/chordinates/]  Thanks to our donors and listeners for making the show possible. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com [http://www.pioslabs.com/].

Music by seth_makes_sounds [https://freesound.org/people/Seth_Makes_Sounds/] under a Creative Commons 0 License [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/].

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

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 known as “cultured meat” or “lab meat” – is real meat that avoids animal slaughter by being grown in a bioreactor. Katie discusses her motivation for her work at BioBQ, including her Texas roots, love of barbecue, interest in ecology, and being vegan. She also highlights partnerships with the cattle industry, investors, and many different fields in science and engineering.

Related to this episode:

• BioBQ: https://www.biobqing.com/

• “Cultivated meat bioprocess design” article: https://gfi.org/science/the-science-of-cultivated-meat/deep-dive-cultivated-meat-bioprocess-design/

• “Eat Just to Open Asia’s Largest Cultivated Meat Facility in 2023”: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-10/eat-just-to-open-asia-s-largest-cultivated-meat-facility-in-2023

• “Upside’s cell-cultured chicken is first to receive FDA blessing for its production method”: https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/16/upside-foods-cell-cultured-meat-fda/

• Good Food Institute (GFI): https://gfi.org/

• New Harvest: https://new-harvest.org/

• IndieBio incubator in San Francisco: https://indiebio.co/

Subscribe and find podcast updates at: http://www.k12engineering.net [http://www.k12engineering.net/]. Support Pios Labs with regular donations on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs. You’ll also be supporting projects like the Engineer’s Guide to Improv and Art Games [https://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Guide-Improv-Art-Games/dp/1520634900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=], The Calculator Gator [http://www.piuswong.com/calculatorgator/], or Chordinates! [https://www.pioslabs.com/chordinates/]  Thanks to our donors and listeners for making the show possible. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com [http://www.pioslabs.com/].

Music by timouse [https://freesound.org/people/timouse/] under a Creative Commons Attribution License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/].

Engineering Meat Cruelty-Free, with Dr. Katie Kam

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 High School to win the most recent competition, while Autumn Dowdy led
her students at the same school to win before that. George and Autumn, an
engineering education power couple, talk about what it’s like teaching
engineering today and how the Solve for Tomorrow competition complements their
existing curriculum.  Ann Woo is the Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship at
Samsung in the US, and she explains why Samsung funds or support the K-12
education pipeline with professional development and other programs like this.

Related to this episode:
• Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition:
https://www.samsung.com/us/solvefortomorrow/
• Porter High team wins national STEM competition for second year:
https://www.yourconroenews.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/Porter-High-team-wins-national-STEM-competition-17192932.php
• Project Lead The Way: https://www.pltw.org/
• MindSpark Learning: https://www.mindspark.org/
• Porter High School Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/porterhs_spartans/?hl=en

Subscribe and find podcast updates at: http://www.k12engineering.net
[http://www.k12engineering.net/]. Support Pios Labs with regular donations on
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs. You’ll also be supporting projects
like the Engineer’s Guide to Improv and Art Games
[https://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Guide-Improv-Art-Games/dp/1520634900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=],
The Calculator Gator [http://www.piuswong.com/calculatorgator/], or Chordinates!
[https://www.pioslabs.com/chordinates/]  Thanks to our donors and listeners for
making the show possible. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production
of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com [http://www.pioslabs.com/].

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

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 audiences. She talks about the mission of her entrepreneurial business,
how to teach kids programming effectively, the right tech tools for teaching
kids of different ages, and her goals for the business and possibly a future
nonprofit.

Related to this episode:
• My Coding Place: https://www.mycodingplace.com/
• Gamemaker: https://gamemaker.io/
• Blender: https://www.blender.org/
• mBot by Makeblock: https://www.makeblock.com/steam-kits/mbot
• Hansol Hong of Robolink, on a past episode:
https://www.k12engineering.net/episodes/74
• Roblox: https://www.roblox.com/
• Lua: https://www.lua.org/
• Girlstart nonprofit, on a past episode: https://k12engineering.net/episodes/21

Subscribe and find podcast updates at: http://www.k12engineering.net
[http://www.k12engineering.net/]. Support Pios Labs with regular donations on
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs. You’ll also be supporting projects
like the Engineer’s Guide to Improv and Art Games
[https://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Guide-Improv-Art-Games/dp/1520634900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=],
The Calculator Gator [http://www.piuswong.com/calculatorgator/], or Chordinates!
[https://www.pioslabs.com/chordinates/]  Thanks to our donors and listeners for
making the show possible. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production
of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com [http://www.pioslabs.com/].

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

To shrink the number of our faulty counts,
you have to learn how to debounce.

This is Episode 105 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs

Originally published April 16, 2021.

debounce

My code is as long as here to Saturn, but condensed and confused in an
anti-pattern.

This is Episode 104 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs

Originally published March 26, 2021.

anti-pattern

They told me, "Let 'er rip, guy!"
"Tighten up that zip tie!"

This is Episode 103 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs

Originally published January 13, 2021.

zip tie

The chemical reaction we smell from afar
that gives satisfaction is named Maillard.

This is Episode 102 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs
Powered by Pios Labs: https://pioslabs.com/

Originally published January 4, 2021.

Maillard

Do wooden planks below my feet not splinter while they shift
during monumental bends and strains from interstory drift?

This is Episode 101 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs
Powered by Pios Labs: https://pioslabs.com/

Originally published December 17, 2020.

interstory drift

Mechanical engineers must work
to eliminate excessive jerk.

This is Episode 100 of Engineering Word Of The Day, an informal show on
favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering
disciplines.

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs
Powered by Pios Labs: https://pioslabs.com/

Originally published December 14, 2020.

jerk 

An informal show on favorite, fascinating, or funny words and phrases used in various engineering disciplines. Hosted by interdisciplinary engineer Pius Wong, also host of The K12 Engineering Education Podcast. Produced by Pios Labs. Support the podcast by donating to Pius's studio on Patreon: www.patreon.com/pioslabs.

Engineering Word Of The Day

Promoting education in engineering and design for all ages. Learn more and read transcripts at www.k12engineering.net. Produced by Pius Wong, engineer, of Pios Labs (www.pioslabs.com [https://pioslabs.com/]). This podcast is for educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, and parents interested in bringing engineering to younger ages. Listen to real conversations among various professionals in the engineering education space, as we try to find better ways to educate and inspire kids in engineering thinking. For episode transcripts and more information, visit: www.k12engineering.net Topics include overcoming institutional barriers to engineering and STEM in K12, cool ways to teach engineering, equity in access to engineering, industry needs for engineers, strategies for training teachers, "edtech" solutions for K12 classrooms, curriculum and pedagogy reviews, and research on how kids learn engineering knowledge and skills. Thanks for listening!

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