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

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 research, The Physics Circus is getting back into live shows again.
Joseph Ziegel is one of the coordinators of the group, along with Jordan Zesch,
and Joseph describes their mission of young scientists spreading more love of
science. Related to this episode: • The Physics Circus at The University of
Texas at Austin: https://web2.ph.utexas.edu/~circus/ • Should a Person Touch
200,000 Volts? A Van de Graaff generator experiment! From the Jefferson lab:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubZuSZYVBng • How To Make Pickles Glow, from
TKOR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFefJyQhw0c • The Physics Circus YouTube
channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPOGbgbw7D4ogjV5_UpFxA Opening music
by LogicMoon: https://freesound.org/people/LogicMoon/sounds/617295/ Closing
music by JetSmith88: https://freesound.org/people/JetSmith88/sounds/206065/
Subscribe and find podcast updates at: 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, The Calculator Gator, or 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.

The Physics Circus Teaches Science, with Joseph Ziegel

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, and teachers translates articles from scientific research journals
into more kid-friendly language. Tanya talks about how her time as a science
teacher in Central Texas influenced her to found this nonprofit, and then
explains all the details that go into collaborating with scientists to make
their work more accessible. Related to this episode: • Science Journal for Kids
(SJFK): https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/ • SJFK article relating to
osmosis and energy:
https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/how-can-we-turn-ocean-water-into-renewable-energy/
• Tumble Podcast: https://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/ • Past episode with
Marshall Escamilla: https://k12engineering.net/episodes/59 • Sarah
Galvani-Townsend:
https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/lesson-ideas/meet-a-scientist-sarah-galvani-townsend/
• Past guest Xiaojing Gao: https://www.k12engineering.net/episodes/113 • SJFK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ScienceJournalforKids • r/explainlikeimfive:
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/ • CC BY (Creative Commons
Attribution licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ • Dr. Shannon
Currie: https://www.shannoncurrie.org/ Opening music by LogicMoon:
https://freesound.org/people/LogicMoon/sounds/617295/ Closing music by
JetSmith88: https://freesound.org/people/JetSmith88/sounds/206065/ Subscribe and
find podcast updates at: 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, The
Calculator Gator, or 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.

The Science Journal for Kids, with Tanya Dimitrova

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 friendlier to mammalian cells than non-biological molecules.
Xiaojing hopes to create the building blocks of this technology, to one day
better treat all sorts of medical conditions ranging from cancer to epilepsy. He
also describes his path to his interdisciplinary career. Related to this
episode: • Dr. Xiaojing Gao: https://cheme.stanford.edu/person/xiaojing-gao •
Gao Lab at Stanford: https://gaolab.blog/ • CAR T Therapy for cancer:
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/car-t-cell-therapy
• Targeted Therapy for cancer:
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/targeted-therapies •
biological logic gates:
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-cells-protein-logic-gates.html • Brain & Behavior
Foundation: https://www.bbrfoundation.org/ • Cell Reprogramming With CRISPR/Cas9
Based Transcriptional Regulation Systems:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00882/full • Physics
Olympiad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Physics_Olympiad • Michael
Elowitz: https://www.bbe.caltech.edu/people/michael-b-elowitz • Liqun Luo:
https://profiles.stanford.edu/liqun-luo • Can we write biological “software
updates” to cure disease?:
https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/can-we-write-biological-software-updates-to-cure-disease/
• Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS)
https://science.osti.gov/wdts Subscribe and find podcast updates at:
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, The Calculator Gator, or
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.

Design Biomolecular Circuits, with Dr. Xiaojing Gao

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 mechanical design all the way to testing in the 3D world. Dan discusses
cofounding Filament Games with partners Dan Norton and Alex Stone, what
constitutes a good or bad learning game, plans for integrating RoboCo into
educational curricula, and more. Related to this episode: • Filament Games:
https://www.filamentgames.com/ • RoboCo: https://www.roboco.co/ • Meaningful
Gaming in Education, PAX presentation from Ashley Brandin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk1pkwi7X8w • iCivics: https://www.icivics.org/
• Roblox: https://www.roblox.com/ • Besiege:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besiege_(video_game) • Space Engineers:
https://www.spaceengineersgame.com/ • Minecraft Edu:
https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/homepage • ‘RoboCo’ Looks to Fuel Interest
in STEM by Letting You Build Useful (and Crappy) Robots:
https://www.roadtovr.com/roboco-looks-fuel-interest-stem-letting-build-useful-crappy-robots/
• FIRST Robotics: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc • Steam Workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/ • Civilization: https://civilization.com/ •
Micro, by Michael Creighton and Richard Preston:
https://www.michaelcrichton.com/micro/ Subscribe and find podcast updates at:
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, The Calculator Gator, or
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.

A Video Game for Designing Robots, with Dan White

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. He honed his curriculum from teaching in Chicago Public Schools
classrooms for fifteen years in largely black and brown communities. First
Steward traces his youth on the South Side of Chicago, when he did not
prioritize academics at all, and then he explains the turning points that took
him through the corporate world and eventually to teaching youth who grew up
much like himself. Related to this episode: • Scott Steward:
https://scottsteward.com/ • Genius Lab: https://www.geniuslabchicago.com/ • 666
new Texas laws go into effect Sept. 1:
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/31/new-texas-laws-september-2021/ • Derrion
Albert: The Death that Riled the Nation:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/derrion-albert-the-death-that-riled-the-nation/
• Million Man March: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March •
Guillain-Barré syndrome: https://www.cdc.gov/campylobacter/guillain-barre.html •
NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship): https://www.nfte.com/ • Gwendolyn
Brooks College Prep: https://brookscollegeprep.org/ • SEL (social-emotional
learning):
https://www.nu.edu/resources/social-emotional-learning-sel-why-it-matters-for-educators/
• Chase the Lion, by Mark Batterson:
https://www.markbatterson.com/books/chase-the-lion/ • 31 Ways to Improve Your
Life, by Scott Steward: https://scottsteward.com/merch/stewisms • Scott Steward
on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therealprofessorstew • The 2019 Chicago
teachers strike:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/10/15/20915723/chicago-teacher-strike-2019-cps-ctu
Subscribe and find more podcast information at: 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, The Calculator Gator, or 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.

Reach Youth by Listening to Them, with Scott Steward

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 nonprofit through the pandemic, after previously
working in industrial engineering and robotics for over twenty years. He talks
about the REC Foundation’s mission, how they changed their competitions during
COVID, and their newer programs in manufacturing education and workforce
development. Related to this episode: • REC Foundation:
https://www.roboticseducation.org/ • FANUC America:
https://www.fanucamerica.com/ • Rack Solutions: https://www.racksolutions.com/ •
VEX Robotics: https://www.vexrobotics.com/ • Northrup Grumman Foundation:
https://www.northropgrumman.com/corporate-responsibility/corporate-citizenship/northrop-grummans-philanthropic-initiatives/
• RECFoundation YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/RECFoundation •
Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute: https://arminstitute.org/ • p500
robot to paint cars https://www.robots.com/robots/fanuc-p-500 • Engineer’s Guide
to Improv & Art Games on Audible.com:
https://www.audible.com/pd/B09BDMF9DD/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-270162&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_270162_rh_us
Subscribe and find more podcast information at: 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, The Calculator Gator, or 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.

Robotics Competitions after 2021, with Dan Mantz

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!