Growing Interest in STEM, Soft Skills, and Labor Shortages

Sense Think Act Podcast

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Dan Mantz, who is the CEO of the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. The REC Foundation is a nonprofit that works with VEX Robotics to build interest in STEM related career opportunities. Dan speaks about the different competitions REC facilitates, why REC is a nonprofit, how REC works with VEX Robotics, on the importance of soft skills, on workforce gaps, and on the future of education.
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EPISODE LINKS:
– REC Foundation’s website: https://www.roboticseducation.org/}
– Dan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmantz/}
– Dan’s email: mailto:[e-mail]}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:34) Introductions
– (0:06:01) Funding with the museum model
– (0:12:17) What REC does day–to–day
– (0:15:19) On being a Nonprofit
– (0:16:33) Nonprofit versus for profit
– (0:21:03) Different programs for different ages
– (0:25:12) Mission and vision
– (0:26:08) Game design
– (0:29:42) Hardware
– (0:35:32) Software
– (0:37:33) Working with VEX
– (0:40:35) Preparing competitions in advance
– (0:43:26) Drone competitions
– (0:46:04) STEM workforce gaps + Industry 4.0
– (0:50:40) Soft skills and communication
– (0:57:24) COVID and simulation
– (1:00:20) Why hands on?
– (1:03:17) Open source?
– (1:08:28) Dan’s background
– (1:14:49) REC and existing education programs
– (1:19:28) Adding REC into main curriculum
– (1:25:08) Future of education
– (1:27:06) Resources and links
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}