Hands-On Techie Talks

Welcome to season two of the podcast where we will be delving into a new mini-series on growth, focused around plants, gardening, and farming. This is a topic that our co-hosts see integrated heavily into their cultures and have seen throughout their childhood especially but have not spent much time discovering, especially in their pursuit of engineering. Join them on their journey of education, featuring special guests, as they learn about the world around them and how that relates to their cultures. In this episode, Danielle Boyer and Vinaya Gunasekar introduce the new season and series and test their knowledge on plants to set the tone for the new season. 

To celebrate our 20th episode, we created special bonus content that discovers what an engineer's day and life really looks like. In this episode, we hear from our co-hosts Danielle Boyer and Vinaya Gunasekar chat with engineers Robert Maldonado (@virtualflatcad) and Michelle Chuang about all things engineering, student life, mental health, and what it is like being a minority. This is an episode that you don't want to miss!

We are finishing our month-long plastic series where we talked about things like single-use plastics and what they are, what recycling really means, and more. This episode focuses on what our hosts Danielle Boyer and Vinaya Gunaskear learned while creating this series, tips to continue learning and creating change at home, and funny bloopers. 

We are continuing a month-long plastic series to talk about things like single-use plastics and what they are, what recycling really means, and more. This episode focuses on plastic technology, the history of plastic, and different types of plastic. This is an episode that you do not want to miss as we hear from our hosts Danielle Boyer and Vinaya Gunasekar on why they are passionate about environmental activism and using their skills for good.

We are continuing a month-long plastic series to talk about things like single-use plastics and what they are, what recycling really means, and more. This is really important information to know as more and more plastic pollutes our air, our water, and our land. Being aware and advocating for change will help us make a big difference! This episode focuses on recycling and what that means. People talk about recycling a lot and how important it is, but what actually is recycling and what happens when we recycle something? 

We are starting a month-long plastic series to talk about things like single-use plastics and what they are, what recycling really means, and more. This is really important information to know as more and more plastic pollutes our air, our water, and our land. Being aware and advocating for change will help us make a big difference! Today we are going to be focusing on single-use plastics and what they are. Many environmental activists you see in the media and on platforms like Instagram and TikTok want to ban single plastic, but why is this such a popular issue. We will be discovering the why during this episode with our co-hosts Danielle Boyer and Vinaya Gunasekar.

Hear from one of our co-hosts, Danielle Boyer, and her STEAM journey and how she knew she could be a robotics and environmental changemaker in a personal message to you. Danielle recounts the first time she remembers encountering STEAM through a prank that she played as a child, up to the first class that she taught, and then to today. Her experiences in learning when to quit and in experiencing sexism in STEAM are really difficult to hear but are something that many others have experienced as well. Danielle hopes that through sharing her stories, she will help other young girls know that they are not alone and should pursue what they love.

Hear from our two young co-hosts Vinaya Gunasekar and Danielle Boyer as they explore biodiversity, habitat loss, and saving our animals. Our animals are going extinct quickly, and technology such as drones can offer the answers to help us keep an eye on at-risk animals like the orangutan. They go over simple steps that you can take to conserve land by watching what you eat and wear.

Follow along with this episode with our fun worksheet.

This podcast is sponsored by The STEAM Connection where we create diverse, accessible, and affordable Science, Technology, Engineering Art, and Math education for kids by students. Learn more.

President Joe Biden was just elected and has already been taking environmental action, but what does this mean? This episode is a brief overview for our young listeners on recent policy, bias and why it matters, how policy is affecting Indigenous peoples, how the Keystone XL pipeline production has stopped and has been invalidated but is yet to be shut down, and more. It can be hard to talk about these topics, but it is important to know what is going on so that we can better advocate for a better and safer Earth.

Reading: Dakota Access Pipeline Operating Illegally by EcoWatch. Joe Biden Cancels Keystone XL Permit by the Verge. Judge Blocks Keystone XL Pipeline, Says Government Cannot Ignore 'Inconvenient' Facts by the Verge. 

Welcome back! Join us with our guest Rob Maldonado (@virtualflatcad) as we learn about the importance of communicating well with others about engineering and how it can make or break a design. How we talk and work with others has changed during the pandemic and has made it harder to express ideas easily, so learn tips and tricks on how we have gotten better at this and prepared ourselves to be better inventors and creators.

Also, hear about our New Years' resolutions and how we are dedicated to being happier, healthier, and stronger.

Follow along with this episode.

Follow Rob and see his engineering projects.

Make your own Twenty Robot.