The Marconi Project
Despite all the negatives of 2020, the past year has also included a lot of positive developments at Parametric Studio. We have been rolling out products and adding new capabilities for engineering STEM learning tools for middle and high school. We have made exciting progress with our at home AR-STEM products and kits. We have also started to work on developing solutions for high school and college level engineering and STEM products.
In fact just recently we have received a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) where we are creating software and STEM curricula targeted at the needs of rural students to gain STEM knowledge, STEM skills, and valuable future workforce skills involving teamwork and data analysis. This USDA opportunity is a Small Business Innovation Research Grant, or SBIR grant, which is a highly competitive program that encourages small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development with the potential for commercialization.
“We’re going to put together a series of challenges which will relate to real world problems and experiences relevant to rural STEM,” said Chris Whitmer, co-founder, and CTO. “High schoolers will get a chance to work on solutions to STEM problems in their own communities, learn workforce relevant skills, and maybe even a little about entrepreneurship.”
Parametric Studio’s news program will give kids a leg up on entrepreneurial skills and ideas. The USDA is awarding us a grant to help make these programs a reality for rural kids and, by extension, giving life to students thoughts and dreams.
We are calling this overall project MARCONI (after the Italian inventor). The software we will develop will allow students to collaborate and bounce ideas off one another,” Whitmer said. “Students will be able to share great STEM experience and tackle real and complex problems.” Whitmer continued “They will also get to see STEM in action in their own communities and envision how a STEM career doesn’t have to mean leaving home.”
Our plan for this work will involve collaborations between us and some state and local level economic development initiatives, and some big name engineering companies. This means students we work with could take skills they learn to build a career in STEM, which is our overall goal. Our programs will help train kids to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow. Our previous grants have helped teach elementary school students the fundamentals of STEM principles, this new grant will build on those skills and complete and connect them to jobs and opportunities.
This solution for Rural high-schools is less focused on teaching fundamentals of math and science, it will instead inspire students to be creative when applying these math and science ideas. By helping students learn STEM and design “tools of the trade” like CAD, Manufacturing skills, and programming Parametric Studios will guide them to work on real projects and more importantly prepare them for the future. “A lot of our programs before were focused on younger children; this one is aimed at older students,” Whitmer said. “We don’t structure the challenges around a curriculum, as much as it's a free space for students to learn how to solve real world problems.”
Students don’t have to think about a STEM job for STEM entrepreneurship as something separate from a rural community. The great things about these next generation manufacturing technologies like CAD, CNC, laser cutting, and 3D printing is it can really democratize innovation and put the power to try an idea, build a product, or create a STEM based company within reach of someone in a rural community.
We are really excited about the potential of this work. It will allow us to add to our own capabilities as a company and at impact rural learners and rural communities futures in a positive way. A lot of times rural communities do a great job educating their students and get them interested in STEM careers only to see them move away for good. We hope that we can help connect STEM to the rural community and it's needs and it's opportunities in a way that helps with that. “Maybe you won’t have to go to a major metropolitan area to work in a STEM field,” Whitmer said. “Students will be able to create something that adds to their rural community and change the world for the better.”
