S1E37 Inspiring the Rising Generation of Engineers | Danielle Boyer

At 19 years old, Danielle has done more to date than most have done in their entire careers. From working as a PCB designer, to founding and leading a STEAM educational organization (The STEAM Connection), and currently double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering (oh, and a minor in Physics…no biggie) Danielle exemplifies the engineering-entrepreneurial spirit (with a little help from her Red Bull).

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com

Click here to learn more about simulation solutions from Simutech Group.

About Being An Engineer

The Being An Engineer podcast is a repository for industry knowledge and a tool through which engineers learn about and connect with relevant companies, technologies, people resources, and opportunities. We feature successful mechanical engineers and interview engineers who are passionate about their work and who made a great impact on the engineering community.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Transcript

Aaron Moncur: 0:14

Hello, and welcome to the Being An Engineer Podcast. Our guest today is Danielle Boyer. At a young age, Danielle recognized the need to educate children and teens in the area of STEAM and created an organization called The Steam Connection where she continues to lead as CEO today. The STEAM Connection offers educational books, low-cost robotics and online classes to help youth learn about technology. And I feel like as far as Danielle is concerned, that is just the tip of the iceberg. So we're going to get into all sorts of interesting conversations. But I'd like to start Danielle by by just asking you to give us a quick intro and share your story with us because it's it's such an interesting one.

Danielle Boyer: 0:58

Well, hello, thank you so much for having me. So my name is Danielle and I'm an award winning indigenous team who's recognized for my work as like an entrepreneur, author, activist, and inventor. I live in Troy, Michigan, and I work on bringing accessible STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math to kids all around the globe.

Aaron Moncur: 1:18

And what, at what age did you did you start your journey into STEAM and technology and education.

Danielle Boyer: 1:26

So I've actually been doing this for almost 10 years now. I was homeschooled for most of my life. And, I, at our homeschool group, there weren't a lot of opportunities regarding STEAM, and/or robotics or anything like that, stuff I was interested in and I saw my little sister was interested in as well. So one time I saw animal puppets at Costco, and I was like, 'Mom, what if I taught an animal science class?' And surprisingly, they let me and I taught an animal science class for kindergarten students. That was an entire semester long, I went on to teach other classes start a robotics team. And when I joined public school, the first thing I dived into what's FIRST Robotics, which stands for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Aaron Moncur: 2:12

Oh, yeah, the FLL League?

Danielle Boyer: 2:15

Yeah, yeah. So there's different, like teams for different ages. So there's Junior FLL. FLL stands for FIRST Lego League, and an R state, that's K through third grade. And then there's FLL, which is FIRST Lego League, and that's fourth and fifth grade in Michigan specifically, then there's FTC, which is FIRST Tech Challenge with. And that's a lot of fun. I love that. They're all middle schoolers, and it's my favorite age group to work with. And then there's FIRST Robotics Competition, which is FRC and I joined two of those teams when I was in high school. I'm 19

Aaron Moncur: 2:50

Okay, so let's put a little bit of context around this. You said 10 years ago is when you started this journey. You are a college student now, so I don't know exactly how old you are. But you're probably around 20. So that means 10 years ago You're 19, okay, so 19. So you were what, nine years old? When when you started this, you started teaching this

Danielle Boyer: 3:09

I was about 10, yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 3:10

10, okay.

Danielle Boyer: 3:11

Yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 3:11

Okay. So that's crazy. 10 years old, and you started teaching. And and you have spent, I mean, literally 10 years, developing your own skills in the technology space and and also helping kids to learn about technology through The STEAM Connection. And maybe let's talk a little bit about that. Tell us about what The STEAM Connection is, and what the role that it plays in kids and technology.

Danielle Boyer: 3:39

So in working with robotics teams for a good portion of my life, and right now I actually mentor 35 teams, I saw how inaccessible a lot of STEAM and tech resources were, how expensive STEAM fees were how expensive robot kits are educational kits can cost 400$500 or more. And I saw that a lot of my students were not able to access those key opportunities. And I was like,'Robotics is very important for kids to learn through, because it's a project-based way of learning electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science in a very comprehensive way.' Right? Because you have to complete a project and you have to know the skills enough to complete it. And so it all started with designing my own robot named every kid gets a robot, and it's a robot that costs less than $20 and goes to kids for free. And I wanted to give kids robots for free and books for free and different resources where they could learn in tech, especially because I love tech, tech and robotics and in a way that is really low cost or free.

Aaron Moncur: 4:45

Let's talk about the Every Kid Gets a Robot kit or EKGR, I think

Danielle Boyer: 4:51

EKGR. Yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 4:52

Okay. Tell me about the development of that. Right. So I'm picturing you as I don't know how old you were 15-16 or so. Maybe when you had the idea and started developing that kit?

Danielle Boyer: 5:03

actually, I think I was 18. Was I 18? Time is like weird when you're almost 20 and pandemic times.

Aaron Moncur: 5:11

Sure

Danielle Boyer: 5:11

But I designed it at the beginning of last year.

Aaron Moncur: 5:14

Okay, so this is pretty recent, then when you designed it.

Danielle Boyer: 5:16

Yeah. So January of last year, and that's the same month that I started my company, I released six books, six children's books for free. And I invented and distributed the robot. So that was a busy month for me.

Aaron Moncur: 5:28

a busy month. I mean, that sounds like a year's worth of work that you crammed into a month. Tell me about the development of this robot? How did you know I mean, that 18, right? You haven't been to university yet? How did you know how to develop a robot?

Danielle Boyer: 5:44

Well, I have loved robotics for a long time. And my dad's an electrical engineer. So he has taught me things like wiring diagramming skills. He's taught me skills, and just a general electrical engineering. And I've loved SolidWorks for a long time. So the computer aided design software.

Aaron Moncur: 6:01

Oh, interesting.

Danielle Boyer: 6:01

So I was like,'What if I made a 3D printed robot, but I also wanted to make it all on one chassis, or the body of the robot. So the battery fits right on at the nine volt battery, the breadboard fits right on it, the motors, the wheels go on the front and the sides, and it looks like a little car and the kids are able to assemble it, they're able to wire it and program it. And it's powered by an ESP 32 Development Board. I was driven mostly by the tech and then designed my chassis and wheels afterward to fit the tech so that it was affordable. Um, but I designed it in SolidWorks, and the wheels and the chassis. So there's four 3d printed components. And it's really great because that means people can make the robot no matter where they live.

Aaron Moncur: 6:45

So is the idea that they purchase the kit, they get the electronics and that they 3D print the parts themselves?

Danielle Boyer: 6:51

Nope, that is an option. But normally, what I do is I just ship the robots out for free.

Aaron Moncur: 6:58

Got it.

Danielle Boyer: 6:58

And I put on events and classes, sometimes I'll partner with companies, and we'll put on events, and then we'll ship the robots out from there to different organizations, or I'll put on different classes and then give the robots away from there. But the robots go to kids for free. And I've sent out over 4000 in the past year and a half, which is crazy. And I also have an online platform where people can download the robot parts. And they can download like all the STL files and have links, where to buy everything for free.

Aaron Moncur: 7:26

And what does the robot do?

Danielle Boyer: 7:28

So it basically just drives around, it's app controlled. The kids can program it, they can add different things to the circuits. It's a very basic circuit so that they can add like sensors and things to it. But it's very simple because of its price point. But the kids often will afterward program it, add different details to it, decorate it, it's really cool chase their pets around with it.

Aaron Moncur: 7:50

That's awesome. So they have like a tablet or a smartphone. And they use that to control the robot hot. Is it basically like a simple remote control car.

Danielle Boyer: 7:59

Yeah, yeah. And a lot of the kids I work with don't have access to things like WiFi. So there's also an autonomous-ish mode. in it. I say ish, because there's no sensors on it. And it's like a pre loop that they can put on and it'll drive around and they don't need access to WiFi. But they can still assemble and wire a robot.

Aaron Moncur: 8:19

That's fantastic. So I know that you work a lot with indigenous communities and minorities, the robot kits, can, can anyone buy them? Or do you have to be one of these communities to purchase one?

Danielle Boyer: 8:33

So I have a form on my website where people fill it out. And I do on a need based basis. Because I'm the one manufacturing all of the robots by myself.

Aaron Moncur: 8:42

You are doing all of these by yourself?

Danielle Boyer: 8:45

Yeah, it takes a lot of time.

Aaron Moncur: 8:47

Wow. That is so much work.

Danielle Boyer: 8:48

Yeah, I did an event for data systems. And we put on a 3D experience for good event. And we assembled in one day 150 robots to donate to kids. And the prep work for that took a month.

Aaron Moncur: 9:02

I believe it. That's a lot of work.

Danielle Boyer: 9:04

I've never soldered so much in like a weekend. But it was so much fun. It was great to see where the robots went afterward, they went to an environmental program at a tribal college in Washington. They went to an indigenous girl scouts team, all different types of amazing organizations.

Aaron Moncur: 9:23

I heard that you had shipped over 4000 of these things. And I was like

Danielle Boyer: 9:27

Yeah

Aaron Moncur: 9:28

She's probably got some kind of supply chain setup. This is sophisticated, so impressive.

Danielle Boyer: 9:32

I'm working on it.

Aaron Moncur: 9:33

It is still impressive. But you're doing this all by yourself, which arguably is more impressive that you've been able to handle all that well, juggling all these other things that we're going to get into here in a few minutes. But wow, congratulations. That's fantastic.

Danielle Boyer: 9:46

Thank you. It's been a lot to manage. And I'm actually working on coming up with a sustainable financial and manufacturing model so that I can get more robots out there. I want to get out around 400,000 robots a year. And so that's the goal. That I'm actively working towards with things like a wave soldering machine better 3D printers that are industrial, better materials and ensuring that my filament that I printed is made out of recycled plastic, which is what I do right now I use a sindo printer. And so all of my robots are made out of recycled plastic. And PLR is biodegradable as well. So I try to make my robots as sustainable as possible, so that we're leaving as small of an impact on the earth as possible.

Aaron Moncur: 10:27

Sure, yeah. Phenomenal. Okay, so going back just a second here. If If someone wants to get one of these kits, they fill out the form.

Danielle Boyer: 10:35

Yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 10:35

And then it's you evaluate on an as needed basis.

Danielle Boyer: 10:39

Yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 10:40

If you can send one out?

Danielle Boyer: 10:41

Yeah, I prioritize organizations that are serving indigenous students, as well as organizations that are serving LGBTQ+ students

Aaron Moncur: 10:49

Got it. And one day, are we going to see these on Amazon? We can just hop over there and buy one?

Danielle Boyer: 10:54

That would be really cool. I hope so. I'm actually writing a few books right now. And so hopefully, those will be on Amazon.

Aaron Moncur: 11:00

Okay. All right, terrific. Let's see. The, it seems like these robots would be just a fantastic way for for kids right now to occupy themselves, right? Especially since we're, we're in COVID. Right now, school has started but most classes are virtual still. Kids are learning from home, have you seen a spike or a sharp rise in demand for these kits?

Danielle Boyer: 11:24

Oh, yeah, I actually started a COVID robotics initiative through my organization, where we've been teaching classes quite frequently on everything from biology to chemistry to an engineering panel. And I also started an ekker initiative where I shipped I tested a distribution model that I'd never done before shipping robots individually, instead of class sets or event sets. I put it in an envelope, I give the kids stickers that I designed, and I packaged it all up, I ship it out to each kid. And then I teach Zoom classes, and usually in two sessions, and we assemble the robots together. And it is very difficult. Don't get me wrong teaching electrical engineering, online is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

Aaron Moncur: 12:12

To kids, right?

Danielle Boyer: 12:13

Yeah, most of the kids that I've had are in middle school for this program, specifically. And it's been a lot of fun, actually. The kids are awesome. The program serves all minority students, and the achor program that I just started having a few months ago. Time is weird right now. But that's sort of all indigenous or black students, or both. And that was really cool.

Aaron Moncur: 12:35

Your LinkedIn page is really interesting, because I use LinkedIn to prepare for these podcasts to learn about the guest and formulate some questions. And usually, the guests on our show will have a lengthy career history. Right? I worked here, I did this. I worked there. I did that. And then maybe they'll have like one or maybe two volunteer roles. And yours is completely opposite. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, at 19, I'm impressed that you have any career experience, but you do both at your esteem connection, as well as a company that we'll talk about in a few minutes, just a bit, working as a PCB designer, so you do have some legitimate career experience. But then in the volunteer section, it's like a novel. It's so low, there are so many things there. And I was hoping that you could share maybe one or one or two of the more rewarding or interesting or fulfilling volunteer experiences that you've been able to be a part of,

Danielle Boyer: 13:34

Well, one of my favorite things to do is emcee at different robotics competitions. And I haven't been able to do that for a while just because of traveling in the pandemic.

Aaron Moncur: 13:43

Yeah

Danielle Boyer: 13:43

But it is so much fun. Often when you go to an event, they're a bit understaffed and volunteers. So I end up being the robot inspector, the manager, the let's put the tables here, person, the emcee, playing that role. And it's a lot of fun seeing the kids get their robots, often, some of them are building them the day off. So it is so cool to like help them get that robot on the field. And to see them compete. It is the best feeling in the world. And I I miss it so much as well as my students. Everything we've been doing is virtual. And I'm like,'I want to see you guys.'

Aaron Moncur: 14:18

Yeah.

Danielle Boyer: 14:19

But that is really cool. And I recommend that everyone volunteer for our FIRST Robotics Competition event or for our FIRST Tech Challenge event. There are in every day

Aaron Moncur: 14:28

What are the easy ways that people can can do that?

Danielle Boyer: 14:31

If you go to firstinspires.org, you can see a list of different events that are coming up as well as ways to volunteer. All you need to do is pass a background check and fill out some of your information and you can start volunteering.

Aaron Moncur: 14:44

Terrific. That's great. All right. Well, this is maybe a good place to take a quick pause and share with the listeners that the Being An Engineer Podcast is powered by Pipeline Design & Engineering where we work with medical device engineering teams and the turnkey custom test fixtures or automated equipment, to assemble, inspect, characterize or perform verification or validation testing on their devices. And you can find us at testfixturedesign.com. We're speaking today with Danielle Boyer, who is an entrepreneur, author, activist, and inventor. And on top of all that, a college student as well. So let's talk just a little bit about that you are double majoring in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Has has the past 10 years learning about robots and technology on your own, how has that equipped you to major in engineering at college? I mean, I wonder has have a lot of the college class has been like just super easy for you, like you're thinking to yourself this is so why are they even teaching this you know, this is childsplay? Or have you been learning a lot of new things as well?

Danielle Boyer: 15:54

Honestly, the learning process can be very difficult for me, especially as someone who has homeschooled for most of her life. I, so, the teaching environment is entirely different than what I've been used to up until I was in the middle of my sophomore year and transferred into high school, or public school. And so it's really hard even learning how to write in a way that professors like or to even sit still through a lecture. And, and I also have a learning disability. So combined with that it has definitely been a huge learning curve and

Aaron Moncur: 16:28

What do you have, like ADHD or something?

Danielle Boyer: 16:30

Yes, I have ADHD. So it has been a very difficult experience, for sure. But it has been worth it. Because I've been able to learn more and more about different aspects of engineering that I didn't know about and to learn, different CAD softwares that I wasn't using and to meet other people in engineering, and especially my age, which doesn't happen often. To be honest. Most of the events I attend, I'm the youngest person there. And with my students, I'm the oldest person there usually. So it's good to meet some people in the middle. But I am also minoring in physics. So it's it's a whole lot of coursework, I took this I took 19 credits semester before last I took a semester off like last semester, I'm taking classes now in the summer, but I needed a minute to do some of my projects, I was traveling for a month. And that was really cool. I loved that it was right before the virus too. So I got all of the traveling out of my system before being locked in the house for a really long time. But that was a really cool experience. And yeah, 19 credits, I don't recommend to anybody. Don't do that.

Aaron Moncur: 17:43

Yeah, and this is while you're also CEO of The Steam Connection, and ostensibly volunteering at various organizations, organizations. So with with everything you're doing, and I'll be the first to admit here that I was on the five year college plan myself, I took my time there. And that was that was only with one engineering major, you were double majoring in engineering plus a minor in physics, plus the steam connection and everything else you're doing. How do you find time to do all of these things? I mean, what is your, like, oh, and apparently you are also still part time working as a PCB designer. So there's that to throw in the mix as well. How do you find time to do all this stuff? What's your time management strategy like?

Danielle Boyer: 18:28

Very little sleep, to be honest? That's like the bare minimum, I think is that, that you're going to be up all the time, ready to do meetings, calls, everything like that.

Aaron Moncur: 18:40

How many hours do you sleep you think each night?

Danielle Boyer: 18:42

Oh, it used to be around two. And now during the pandemic, I can shift things around. So it's more like five which has been really nice.

Aaron Moncur: 18:49

Wow, that is just crazy. So two hours, you could you could function on two hours of sleep

Danielle Boyer: 18:55

Well, so you need to couple that with things like Red Bull or Monster which I'm not, I do not advocate, do not do this.

Aaron Moncur: 19:03

We need to put a disclaimer on this episode. We do not endorse two hours of sleep and Red Bull to this sustain your life.

Danielle Boyer: 19:09

This is why I'm a robot teacher and not a health teacher. I just had a big morning of things not to do with Danielle. But yeah, it definitely balancing everything out. I've learned just to not procrastinate frankly, and I struggle with that sometimes especially with ADHD. I'm like, whoo. So what I have to do is shut off my phone, not touch any of my apps. Not watch YouTube. I have to put on some like crazy electronics, music or whatever, like electro music, whatever. And I just have to sit there and I have to get my work done and not move until it's done. Which can be difficult because I get hundreds of robot requests a day.

Aaron Moncur: 19:51

Wow.

Danielle Boyer: 19:52

And I also have a lot of projects. I just won a few awards that we'll be releasing in the next few months and they can't sell film crews. So I have to film the videos myself.

Aaron Moncur: 20:02

Good grief. Wow.

Danielle Boyer: 20:04

So it's just about, 'Hey, let's not do Netflix right now and let's sit down and get our work done.' It means a lot of when your friends want to hang out, you can't. Which is kind of sad sometimes. But it's kind of like you, you got to get your work done. And I know that it's for a good cause and that people are learning and that people are benefiting from what I'm doing. So that keeps me going instead of completely burning out and being disappointed.

Aaron Moncur: 20:30

Well, now you're getting five hours of sleep. So that's plenty of sleep, right?

Danielle Boyer: 20:34

Plenty, yeah. Less caffeine to which has actually been great.

Aaron Moncur: 20:38

was probably acorrelation there, right? With the number of hours of sleep and the caffeine, negative correlation somehow

Danielle Boyer: 20:44

Less headaches, to be honest, which is

Aaron Moncur: 20:46

Sure

Danielle Boyer: 20:47

'Cause that can't be good for you, a ton of Red Bull, it just can't. But it's, it's been a good feeling to be able to keep up the amount of work that I want to. And it also I have some team members, all of my members are students, which was really cool, most of them high school students. And they helped me with some day to day activities like social media management, some content creation, and that's been really cool as well.

Aaron Moncur: 22:13

Yeah, that's fantastic. Well, I like that you said, turning off your phone is a big thing, right, just getting rid of all those distractions, I, I do the same thing myself on a need to get some deep focus in, shut down the email, turn off my phone, sometimes I just go into a quiet room by myself where there are no distractions and get the work done. Another question I wanted to ask you about school that I thought would be interesting is what Aren't you learning in school that you think you should be or even not specific to you that you think generally should be a part of the curriculum to ensure that students are prepared for industry when they graduate.

Danielle Boyer: 22:49

So I'm actually relatively new in the process, I took a gap year and a semester off. So I've been in school for what three semesters total now. So my, a lot of it has been some of the pre-reqs and things and not as much engineering as I want to be doing. And I get to the engineering sooner than later, I want to learn all this fun stuff. So I don't know yet. What I should or shouldn't be learning or what I'm missing out on. And, of course, it depends on the college as to what they prioritize. And I'm not always sure like, what exactly, it depends on the professor to be honest. So I don't know what I'm missing yet.

Aaron Moncur: 23:30

Which do you think that you're gonna, do you think that you're going to graduate from college?

Danielle Boyer: 23:35

Ah, okay. So I really would like to, because I want to pursue a career in research and bio robotics, which is emulating biological organisms, either mechanically, or chemically. I'm interested in the mechanical emulation aspect. And to do that, you need to have a PhD in it, to be able to research. So that is what keeps me going. But I know I keep on getting tv deals from major companies and production deals. And, off, I mean, offers not deals, but so that may take front seat for a while. So we'll see how everything goes. My parents are definitely like, please finish college. But I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm on my own TV show. That would be cool!' Because a lot of what I do is engineering, communication, and tech communication. And I'm like,'Show us the next thing to do.' And everyone's like, no, sit down. I'm like, 'Yes, let's do it.' So yeah, it depends on how my life goes in that direction. I'm trying to focus on finishing a few books right now, actually, with a publisher this time, which is exciting. And I'm also finishing another robot that I've been working on, which is top secret, but really exciting. And so I've been getting these projects done. And hopefully I can get those out of the way before I start in person classes again, and completely die.

Aaron Moncur: 25:00

Well, my opinion is you can get a lot of good information from college, but the piece of paper at the end, I feel like that is becoming less and less important. Don't get me wrong, I think it still is important, especially for a lot of larger organizations, although not all companies like Google and some other massive ones have said very publicly in the past few years that they are no longer requiring college degrees for a lot of their technical positions. So I think that's very cool. I look at college as a tool, right? A stepping still dependent, is not to get that piece of paper. The goal is to learn the things that you need to learn to move into the next phase of whatever it is that you want to do.

Danielle Boyer: 25:46

I think that's the goal. I think that's the good a good goal, but it can definitely be hard to win. A lot of the classes are either super basic or super advanced. Like for example, we have two intro major intro to mechanical engineering classes, and one of them just teaches with Lego Mindstorms and the professor's like, 'Go for it, have some fun learn block coding.' Right? And then the other professor is like, 'Hey, by the end of the class, I want yo'u to have built a working drone.' And with no instruction really just, 'Hey, make a drone. So sometimes that learning process can be forced on you a little bit and other times it's not. So it's, it's interesting. I wouldn't always say college is a consistent or even good way to learn all the things you need to know. Um, I think a lot of people do it for that piece of paper. Because I see it like a block, like a gate in the way of my bio robotics research.

Aaron Moncur: 26:45

Yeah, sure, it is. For better, for worse, that's true.

Danielle Boyer: 26:49

Yeah, and I wish that wasn't the case. I wish it was more fun to learn in those environments, because they're very stressful, very, very stressful. Especially being a girl in engineering. It's super, super stressful. People single you out to ask questions, the professor single you out, other students do. Often people when you're put in a group, they're just like, 'Hey, you can do the writing.' And they don't want you to do in engineering. And I often don't mention all my work to my peers, because I just, I don't want to bring it up. And, and so often, they're like,'Hey, do the writing,' and like,'Oh, if you only, you knew.' But it's I think it's a good thing to just be nice no matter what, someone's in the background.

Aaron Moncur: 27:38

Sure, of course.

Danielle Boyer: 27:38

But yeah, so I definitely see it as, hey, this is a step towards me pursuing bio robotics and having fun, robot adventures for the rest of my life, just researching, working. And, yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 27:54

Yeah, we've been working on a training program that we call Pipeline Academy, off and on over the years. And our our motto is 'Doing is better than learning about doing.'

Danielle Boyer: 28:07

Yeah

Aaron Moncur: 28:07

And I feel like in college, I did a lot of learning about doing and again, I learned some important things for sure. But I didn't do a whole lot of actual doing. And

Danielle Boyer: 28:18

I feel that too

Aaron Moncur: 28:19

Do you? Okay.

Danielle Boyer: 28:20

Yeah, yeah. That's why I value hands on learning so much.

Aaron Moncur: 28:24

Yeah, absolutely.

Danielle Boyer: 28:25

Especially with my students. And in our school district. Sometimes things are priority ties towards getting the scores and less on the actual learning process. And so I tried to bring the fun back into engineering because we, I'm in Michigan, what's a very engineering centric state. So a lot of the kids are learning those skills, but not in a way they're going to remember or going to enjoy. So I work on that bringing the fun into steam. And the kids have a great time, especially since I just let them go ham and we set things on fire and stuff.

Aaron Moncur: 28:59

You're sharing all kinds of things that you should not be sharing right now, setting things on fire, two hours sleep, Red Bull fuel.

Danielle Boyer: 29:06

See, I, it's a safety training practice this is is what you should not do.

Aaron Moncur: 29:11

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's how you frame it. Perfect. Let's you you've worked at a company called Invent Technologies as a PCB designer for I think over three years now.

Danielle Boyer: 29:21

Yeah.

Aaron Moncur: 29:22

And what have you learned about working in industry that maybe you didn't expect? And how have you used those experiences to shape your your STEAM Connection curriculum?

Danielle Boyer: 29:34

I've just further learned how undiversed it is. I go to industry events, and all I see are white men. And it can be a very isolating and difficult environment. And people a lot of the jokes are super inappropriate. A lot of the comments are very inappropriate. It's not an environment that's conducive towards women feeling comfortable, or minorities feeling comfortable. So it's only made me want to promote my materials more for people who are often left behind in STEAM learning, so that we can create our own environments that we feel happy and safe in and not trying to fit into other places.

Aaron Moncur: 30:16

One of the things that I learned about when I was reading through The Steam Connection website, is that there is apparently a SolidWorks for kids app. I had no idea that this even existed. This seems like another thing that could be just a great tool for parents trying to keep the kids occupied during the whole COVID learning from home situation. Can you tell us just a little bit about the SolidWorks for kids app.

Danielle Boyer: 30:41

So the SolidWorks app for kids is one of my favorite resources of all times. It is so cool, and I love teaching with it. I teach all the time I try to fit in into every single class I teach because it gives the kids the skills to continue learning even after my classes ended. Especially If it's virtual, and they can't take anything home, or I don't ship anything out, and it's free, which is awesome. Um, but it is just such a great program because the kids can download their files in STL format, and they can 3D print them, they can hook her up to the app. And if they don't have a 3D printer, they can print a cube out of their design, which is great because many of my students don't have 3D printers. And there's color by number options. And it's a very detailed program, the kids can make whatever they want. And it is so cool. And often

Aaron Moncur: 31:32

Does it look like the standard SolidWorks interface, but just dumbed down?

Danielle Boyer: 31:36

No, no, it looks more like they're some of their 3D experience platform resource.

Aaron Moncur: 31:42

Okay, this is a web application?

Danielle Boyer: 31:44

Yes, yes. It's a browser based which is awesome.

Aaron Moncur: 31:47

You could run it on any any computer. It doesn't need to be a beefy CAD?

Danielle Boyer: 31:51

Yeah, even even a tablet.

Aaron Moncur: 31:54

Cool

Danielle Boyer: 31:54

Which is really awesome. I recommend having a mouse with it, just CAD.

Aaron Moncur: 31:58

Okay.

Danielle Boyer: 31:59

But it is such a cool resource. And often what I do with my students is I have them say, 'Okay, what do you think a robot should look like? Or does look like?' And I'll have them design their own robots. And then sometimes we'll render them afterwards as a class, which is really cool.

Aaron Moncur: 32:15

Cool

Danielle Boyer: 32:15

And it is so awesome. It is my favorite program. Hands up.

Aaron Moncur: 32:20

That's great to hear. I'm gonna get my kids hooked on that. I've been trying to get them hooked on SolidWorks. And they've they've played with it a little bit. they've enjoyed it, but they haven't stuck with it. So maybe this SolidWorks app for kids is a good, good gateway drug for them.

Danielle Boyer: 32:35

For younger kids, I think that's definitely important. Because it can be very difficult to see numbers off the bat and things and say,'Okay, I don't really know what I'm doing.' A lot of the kids I work with, they they fear math, and I know I even feared math when I was younger. And so the SolidWorks app for kids drops that barrier to entry and allows kids to just start creating and start thinking of ideas without thinking, 'Okay, I need to measure everything out.' Which I think when the kids are getting started is perfect. And it reduces a lot of that fear and anxiety that I see a lot of kids have and that prevents them from ever touching CAD again.

Aaron Moncur: 33:11

Yeah, very cool. Okay. What's what does the future hold for you Danielle? I mean, 10-15 years from now, what do you think you'll be doing? What

Danielle Boyer: 33:23

Oh wow, I thought you met within the next few months or something

Aaron Moncur: 33:28

Further into the future even.

Danielle Boyer: 33:30

Okay, well, I am hopeful to have my PhD in bio robotics and be designing really cool bots. I'm really inspired by like the Velux robot which was inspired by a cuttlefish it can go in the water can go on the land, it can go on ice, no everything like that. I'm like,'Oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing.' And it's actually what got me interested in bio robotics to begin with. Harvard's made like a cricket robot, there's origami robots. I'm personally inspired by things like mountain goats, and making robots I can go up steep surfaces. So that's what I want to do for the rest of my life is make just crazy robots all the time, whether that's on my own or with a company that's what I would really like to do.

Aaron Moncur: 34:10

Yeah

Danielle Boyer: 34:10

And I have a lot of plans with The Steam Connection. I would like to open college chapters where college students can start teaching their own classes and I'm actively working on that. I also want to open up different facilities for kids to attend in person classes. I want to open a steam museum for kids to have like their own makerspace and to have different events and play around with lots of really cool tech and things like dinosaur bones. So I have a lot of plans a lot of very expensive plans from the sounds of it, but I'm really excited about the future

Aaron Moncur: 34:45

Well I'm looking forward to following you, I certainly will be moving forward to see what what you end up doing. I think that'll be exciting just from a spectator standpoint to see what you're able to come up with. How can people get a hold of you do you want to share any websites or email addresses or anything like that if people want to get a hold of you?

Danielle Boyer: 35:07

So you can learn more information at steamconnection.org and there I have like a place where you can contact me, I have more information on how to get robots if you want to my free virtual classes, everything like that. And I also have an Instagram at Danielle Boyer and from there you can find my link tree where I have like my LinkedIn if you want to stock my different volunteering background. I have like a Twitter everything like that. I even have a TikTok now, which is crazy. It has been really cool. I've been teaching kids about 3D printing and stuff from TikTok, and it is a scary platform. People are brutal.

Aaron Moncur: 35:45

I don't know much about TikTok. I feel like an old person but I have heard that Trump is not a fan of it. So

Danielle Boyer: 35:51

Oh yeah

Aaron Moncur: 35:52

You're able to continue using that?

Danielle Boyer: 35:54

Yeah, hopefully it has been really awesome because I've been able to post like, I did a 3D printing repairing video and that got like 130,000 views

Aaron Moncur: 36:04

Wow.

Danielle Boyer: 36:05

Which was crazy. I was crazy I did not expect it too. And I also have done different videos on like what it's like to be a woman in engineering. I've done different videos on different things you can do with 3D printing, like Nerf guns, glow in the dark 3D prints, stuff like that. And I think it's a really cool platform, especially if you want to influence younger people in STEAM.

Aaron Moncur: 36:29

Very cool. I'm guessing the majority of these were filmed at like 2am

Danielle Boyer: 36:33

Actually, no. I need good lighting. So I actually filmed those during the day.

Aaron Moncur: 36:39

Fantastic. All right. Well, Danielle, thank you so much for being on the show. I really appreciate you taking some time out to talk and best of luck

Danielle Boyer: 36:48

Thank you.

Aaron Moncur: 36:48

In future endeavors.

Danielle Boyer: 36:50

Thank you so much.

Aaron Moncur: 36:54

I'm Aaron Moncur, Founder of Pipeline Design & Engineering. If you liked what you heard today, please leave us a positive review. It really helps other people find the show. To learn how your engineering team can leverage our team's expertise in developing turnkey custom test fixtures, automated equipment and product design, visit us at testfixturedesign.com Thanks for listening