SheDrones Women in Technology Int. WITI
SheDrones excited the students and adults at the 2016 Women in Technology International (WITI) Summit with a STEM program to engineer a drone quadcopter.
Women in Technology International (WITI) Summit 2016 in San Jose, CA. SheDrones offered an opportunity for young girls to design, engineer, program and fly drone quadcopters. Leslie Bates, the founder of SheDrones, Anne Lopez, the developer of the STEM education curriculum, Don E. Yeoman, audio visual, flight control and training assistant, and Desi Ekstein the sUAS flight operator and flight controller make up the team for SheDrones. The goal of SheDrones is to empower students to pursue an education and career in science. The program is designed to address the country’s need for more female innovators, employees, leaders and entrepreneurs in the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) industry. The excitement and enthusiasm at the event was so high the students and adults wanted to get involved.
Starting with … what’s in the bag? Curiosity was peaked when the brown paper bag was handed out and the first engineering design was set in motion. The music went on and the tower build began. The goal of the first exercise was to introduce the students to engineering discovery, design, create, and test concept by building the tallest free standing tower from the items inside the bag (a handful of small clear cups). This is when the adults felt the students were having too much fun and wanted to join in. (more…)