When we talk about diversity in STEM fields, most people immediately think of the race or gender gaps. But for today's guest, promoting diversity in STEM means encouraging diversity in thought, behavior, interaction, and much more. 

Dr. Carlotta Berry is the Lawrence J. Giacletto Endowed Chair and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose Hulman. Her areas of expertise include educational mobile robotics and enhanced human-robot interfaces. Also specializing in recruitment and retention activities for underrepresented populations in electrical and computer engineering, she helped found the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSE-BUD) program, which she co-advises. 

In this episode of RosePod, Dr. Berry joins our student hosts Isaac and Reese, and shares her journey from aspiring math teacher to esteemed professor, touching on her educational experiences from Nashville to Vanderbilt and her commitment to diversifying STEM. Dr. Berry discusses her initiatives to inspire young and diverse demographics through STEM outreach, including writing children’s books and engaging in hands-on STEM activities. The episode also highlights Rose Hulman's supportive environment promoting group work and practical experience, aiming to produce well-rounded graduates prepared for challenging engineering and science careers.

On promoting STEM for people with diverse backgrounds

10:17: I write children's books so that little kids can see themselves doing robotics, can see themselves doing programming at a level they understand. My engineering research is in robotics education, engineering education. I have flower bots, open-source robots that are modular, that grow with the student. So if you're a little kid, then you are doing graphical programming, and I can still tell you the basics of robotics. If you're a high school student, you may be doing Arduino programming, Raspberry Pi, or something like that. But you start to grow them into STEM so that when, especially if it's a young lady or if it's a black or brown student, they're in class, and they're in middle school, and somebody goes, "girls aren't good at math" or "there's no such thing as a black or brown engineer," they go—no, I saw one in a book. I know I can do this.

Why humanities is important in STEM

05:30: Something I talk to, especially when I teach freshman design, is humanities. Students are notorious. I hate how many humanities courses I have to take. Why do I have to take ethics? Why do I have to take writing? Why do I have to write all these papers? Why do I have to do all these presentations? Well, you have to do it because if you're going to be an engineer, you want to be able to convince people to give you money for your great idea. And you want to be able to explain to people how it works. You're not designing in a vacuum here. You're designing as an engineer for people. So if you don't get some people skills in there, you're going to have all these cool things down in your garage or in your basement that nobody is going to use. That's why the humanities courses are equally as important as the STEM courses, the engineering and all of that, because of the major you have selected.

Pushing for multidisciplinary interaction

0743: Another thing I push a lot, along with diversity, is multidisciplinary interaction. Can you, as a computer engineer, work with a mechanical engineer and help them understand the perspectives you have about your major so they can give you some of theirs as well? Because you're not going to only be working with computer engineers when you graduate. Sometimes, you're going to be working with a manager who doesn't even have a technical degree. Can you help your manager understand what you've been doing for the last week? Right? That stuff is equally as important.

• Carlotta Berry | Rose-Hulman
• Dr. C.A. Berry – Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Carlotta Berry, Ph.D. | LinkedIn
• Coded Bias | A.I. Bias & Facial Recognition Discrimination | Documentary | PBS
• FIRST Robotics Competition Team
• Branam and Kremer Innovation Centers | Rose-Hulman
• Rose Power
• Carlotta A. Berry: Children’s books, biography, latest update
• These Romance Novels Represent Black Women In Science
• Rosebud

At Rose-Hulman, athletics and academics go hand in hand. And no one knows how important the balance between classes and practices is than head football coach Jeff Sokol. 

Sokol has coached at Rose-Hulman for 13 years and played DIII football himself when he was in school. On this episode of RosePod, Sokol chats with student hosts Isaac and Reese about the variety of athletics offered at Rose, what coaching DIII football is like, and how Rose-Hulman supports its student-athletes on the field and in the classroom. 

 

Fostering a supportive community outside the field
18:37: I always encourage our guys, especially during orientation, [to] reach out and become friends with guys on the football team. The easiest thing to do is just to have 40 friends of other first-year guys. You can be perfectly happy having those be your only friends. But if you go out and really start to meet the other people on your floor and in your resident hall and just reach out and befriend all the other people on this campus, hopefully other students that aren't student-athletes appreciate the effort that the student-athletes put into their sport, enjoy coming out and cheering them on, and take some pride in the success that we have.

Coaching is instilling love for the game in your athletes

05:20: The big challenge in coaching is: you have to make your players love playing the game. Like they have to really enjoy being a part of the team. You're going to ask them to do difficult things in order to be competitive and to be successful. But they've got to enjoy doing it, 'cause there's no scholarship to hold over their head. They can walk away anytime. So, the student-athletes are here playing the games because they love them. And for us as coaches, our challenge is just to make sure we don't do anything to take that love away.
 

On appreciating the academic commitment of student-athletes

18:10: A lot of the students, when they come here, maybe they had a certain perception about the athletes in their high school and what it was like. But I hope when they go to a class and they see that all the athletes are in the classes with them, taking all the exact same classes, having the exact same struggles, and working through all these complicated academic issues that everyone hears. And I hope there's an appreciation for that, and they want to come out and support them.

• Rose-Hulman Football
• Rose-Hulman Athletics

One thing we pride ourselves on here at Rose-Hulman is providing our students real-world experience and exceptional internship opportunities. 

And our guest today is passionate about fostering innovation and solutions-oriented product design right here on campus.  Brian Dougherty is the Senior Director of Rose-Hulman Ventures, a product design, rapid prototyping and development firm located on Rose-Hulman’s south campus. He is also a Rose alum from the class of 1993!

Today, Brian will share what Rose Ventures is all about with our student hosts Isaac and Reese. 
He highlights the variety of projects students are working on through the program from software development to medical devices, and how these challenging projects prepare students for the workforce. 
 

Creating a best internship experience at Rose-Hulman Ventures

09:15: People are sometimes shocked or a little skeptical of this, but the truth is that an internship experience at Ventures is among the best in the world. And primarily because myself and the full-time engineering staff down there—well, the whole staff down there—our jobs exist to make it the best internship in the world...09:49 So unless that company invests heavily in their internship culture, which some do, a lot of times, that experience can be a little bit lacking. So the way we create that experience, though, is by putting our interns in positions where they have to deliver.

What’s unique about Rose-Hulman Ventures?

30:19: That intersection of driving that value for the client. In a real project in a way that maybe the student interns never had any idea that they could even do.

That's where that educational opportunity happens. And we're unique in doing that. We've been doing it for a long time now, and we've been a very open book about how we do it, but it's really a testament to the culture of Rose-Hulman that most other schools haven't really figured it out yet.

Rose-Hulman Ventures is an engine for driving innovation

24:32: Rose-Hulman Ventures is an engine for driving innovation for our clients. So usually, they have an entrepreneurial idea but no idea how to make it work. They don't have the resources, the building blocks, or the skills that they need to figure out how to make this idea come to reality. And we do that.

• Rose-Hulman Ventures
• NICO Corporation
• Innovation Grove and More Rose-Hulman Ventures Changes

Here at Rose-Hulman, we really believe in hands-on experience, and our innovation center are filled with opportunities to get dirty. In this podcast episode, we are digging into Rose Hulman's Branam Innovation Center (BIC) and Kremer Innovation Center (KIC).

For this conversation, we are joined by Lee Dagle, the administrative assistant for the BIC, the KIC, and engineering design, as well as Garrett Hart, a Rose-Hulman electrical engineering student who is very involved in the BIC as well.

Lee & Garrett chat with our student hosts Isaac and Reese all about how these centers provide students with tangible experiences, fostering innovative thinking and practical learning outside the classroom. They discuss how the centers enable students to express their passions and have an accessible platform to experiment and take risks, and share a bit about what all the student teams at the BIC and the KIC are working on lately.

The whole mission of BIC

16:42 [Lee Dagle] Our role is simply to assist you. We are to assist you to do the best that you can do to get to competition and compete with all the other, whether they're large or small. We want to empower you. [The] bottom line is we want you to gain the skills and have all the knowledge in manufacturing, creating, revising, and learning how to pivot when you fail. Basically, we want you to become a better engineer before you even graduate.

How passion fuels success in the BIC and KIC

23:19: [Lee Dagle] It's your passion. What is your passion? And I think that the BIC and the KIC shine when the students come down with their passion, and this is what they love, and we're going to do what we can to help them be successful.

The power of a maker space mindset

24:32: [Garrett Hart] When you put a bunch of people in a building, that is just a huge maker space that also has the mindset and ideology of, like, just ask, and they'll stop what they're doing and drop what they're doing to help you or even work with you for, like, this multi-year effort of developing rocket engines, you can do so much there.

• Branam and Kremer Innovation Centers | Rose-Hulman
• Branam Innovation Center – Teams & Clubs | Rose-Hulman
• Battery Workforce Challenge | Rose-Hulman
• Lander Challenge
• Office of Innovation | Rose-Hulman

You’ve found your place and are doing your coursework here at Rose-Hulman, but what happens once you graduate? The post-college career world can be difficult to navigate, but we have so many resources right here on campus that can help students & alumni find the best career to fit their goals.

 

To tell us more, we are joined today by Scott Tieken, Director of Career Services & Kathy Kassissieh, Associate Director of Career Services and Employer Relations at Rose-Hulman.

With almost 2 decades each at Rose-Hulman, Scott and Kathy sit down with our student hosts Isaac and Reese about what career services has to offer, working with peer advisors, how its okay to not know what you want to do with your life big picture just yet and more that shows why the Princeton Review ranks us No. 10 in the nation for Best Career Services!

How Rose-Hulman's career services benefits students

07:14 [Kathy Kassissieh] One thing that Rose-Hulman's career services office does that most schools do not, is we have one career services office for the whole campus. However, we have career advisors that are assigned to specific majors. And what happens there is it gives each of us, whatever major we are assigned to, we then can delve a little bit deeper into that. We get to know the professors who are teaching the classes. We get to know what you are learning in those classes and what skills you are gaining, which helps us be able to help you, the student, talk about what it is that you're learning.

How stepping out of your comfort zone can give you a headstart for career growth

23:19: [Scott Tieken] Let's not be so closed-minded on the front end. Let's get those offers, then decide what's the best fit for the company. What's the best size of the company? Do they do what I want to do? Are they where I want to go geographically? I think the earlier you step out of your comfort zone and try something new, the more it's going to reward your career in the long haul, and employers love to see that.

What makes Rose-Hulman’s career services unique?

19:49: [Kathy Kassissieh]  It's getting to know you as a person, not just as a student, not just as a specific major, but you're going to sit down with your advisor and they're going to get to know you. And then, based on that, we're able to almost play like a matchmaking game where you're not going to just graduate with a job; you're going to graduate with a career.

• Career Services & Employer Relations – On-Campus Recruiting | Rose-Hulman
• Career Services & Employer Relations – Info for Alumni | Rose-Hulman
• Princeton Review: Rose-Hulman ranks No. 10 in the nation for Best Career Services 

Guest Profile:

• Scott K. Tieken | LinkedIn
• Career Services at Rose-Hulman
• Kathy Kassissieh | Rose-Hulman
• Kathy Kassissieh | LinkedIn

It's no surprise that women are underrepresented in the world of STEM. Whether it's internal stigma or external barriers, here at Rose-Hulman, we are working to create an even playing field for women looking to get into the industry.

Dr. Kimberly Henthorn is the Department Head of Chemical Engineering and Associate Professor here at Rose-Hulman. She specializes in particle technology and two-phase microfluidic systems, and is currently conducting research with students on the science and engineering of chocolate production.

A member of Rose-Hulman’s first coed freshman class, Dr. Henthorn is not only an alumna, but a born and raised Indianan, as well as an advisor for the campus’ Delta Delta Delta sorority chapter. 

Dr. Henthorn joins our student hosts Isaac and Reese chat about coming to a predominantly male school, how she has seen the field change with more female representation, highlights the positive progress over the past years, and offers a number of resources for girls interested in the STEM field.

The impact of female voice in the STEM field

09:00: I think as engineers, sometimes people think all we care about is the math and the science, but there's a lot more to it than just that. If all we did was math and science, then that would be pretty awful. We have a lot of other things that we need to take into consideration. There's going to be environmental impacts and societal impacts, you know, in the field of biochemistry or even biomedical engineering. If you're designing a device that can suit all body shapes, women's bodies are different than men's bodies. And so, if you don't have that female voice on the design team, those kinds of differences might not be recognized. And so, by having more females in these various areas, we as a society have gotten a lot better in designing processes that can better suit the needs of the population.

Fearless in STEM, embracing opportunities at Rose-Hulman

24:41: Don't be intimidated by people who tell you that you can't do it because you can. And if you feel like you don't have that nurturing environment to study STEM, come to Rose-Hulman because we will take care of you and make you feel welcome.

Empowering voices for women in STEM

12:02: I've never been afraid to be different; I've been different my whole life. So, I don't mind being the first at something. Somebody has got to be the first. That's what I tell my daughters. I want to instill in them that they shouldn't let someone tell them that they can't do something or scare them into thinking they can't do it just because they're different. You just got to do it. I believe representation in STEM, with a lot of women around to send that message, is going to be important to growing that women demographic in STEM.

• Rose Power Camp
• Project SELECT | Rose-Hulman
• National Academy of Engineering
• EngineerGirl
• Physics Girl - YouTube
• Girls Who Code
• ChickTech

Guest Profile:

• Kimberly H. Henthorn | Rose-Hulman
• Kimberly Henthorn | LinkedIn

While many people think of research as an upperclassmen or graduate school activity, we want to nurture your curiosity whenever inspiration hits you. So today, we are walking all about research opportunities at Rose-Hulman, for undergraduates and more.

Dr. Ross Weatherman is the Head of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and a native of Indiana. His latest work involves leading a team of high-achieving students in researching the role of estrogen in the development and treatment of breast cancer. 

Dr. Weatherman chats with student hosts Isaac and Reese about the best parts of the Rose-Hulman curriculum, research, and labs! He shares with us how he found his way from pre-med to chemistry & pharmaceuticals, the benefits of starting research as an undergrad, programs to get a jumpstart on your research careers like Operation Catapult and Project SELECT.

Advice for those who are looking into working on research

25:05: It's okay if you don't know what you want to do, and it's okay if it sounds like it's something you might be interested in, but you're not sure. And it's like, well, I don't know; I can't imagine myself being like that guy I see on TV—pretending to be a researcher, maybe actually is a researcher. But the reality is that everybody starts somewhere. And so if you've just been interested in how things work, and again, once you start it, you don't have to keep doing it. Some people start doing it, and it's like, man, nothing ever works. And I just get frustrated because even if it works once out of ten times, I expected it to work nine out of ten times. So, it's a mentality that some people have and some people don't. So just try it; you know, it's okay. It's low-stakes. You can probably learn something. It'll look good and see if that's something that you like.

Rose-Hulman's faculty curiosity fosters limitless research opportunities

14:16: The faculty here has an inherent curiosity that allows research to be done pretty much in anything. Even in the humanities, a lot of times it's "compare these books and try to figure out if you can find some connections or some context based on history." So, it's really exciting because these are the sorts of conversations you get into with people where you realize they're an expert in something that you know nothing about. It's just fascinating to talk to them and learn all about it.

How mentorship ignites Dr. Ross' passion for discovery

02:05: I realized that what I loved more than that graduate-level research with graduate students was finding excited undergraduates who said, "I want to discover something, right? I want to learn something new." And then show them how to do that—like how to start that process.

Operation Catapult | Rose-Hulman

Project SELECT | Rose-Hulman

Rose-Hulman Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Guest Profile:

• Ross V. Weatherman | Rose-Hulman
• The Weatherman Lab
• Dr. Ross Weatherman LinkedIn

If you're going through the college application process right now, you know it can be hard to figure out which place has the experience you're looking for. Small vs. big colleges, rural vs. major cities. There are so many options! And that doesn't even begin to address finding friends, fitting in and feeling like you're a part of the campus community. 

As vice president for student affairs and dean of students, Erik Hayes oversees all aspects of student life including housing, dining services, the student union, athletics, and more, and is here to help you figure out how to choose the best school for you. 

Erik catches up with student hosts (and campus tour guides) Isaac and Reese to talk all things college tours. Listen as they chat about trusting your gut when you visit a campus, the difference between residence halls vs dorms, matching up roommates by hand, greek life, and other ways to get involved on campus.

There is something for everyone at Rose-Hulman

32:19: When you pick a place like Rose, when you say, "I want to go to a small school," where it's built literally in our mission of an environment of individual attention and support. When we talk about that, you don't slip through the cracks at Rose-Hulman. There are people like you guys who are so involved. There are tutors on the floors. People are here, like, "This is what our life's work is, and we want to make sure that students are successful here," and it starts from day one.

Creating a great residential experience

14:16: When I came as a freshman, there's always the fear of, "How hard is this? We all know Rose is hard. Like, how hard is it? Am I going to be able to be successful?" Of course, everybody thinks that, but a very real fear for people is, "Am I going to like my roommate? Am I going to fit in? Am I going to make friends?" Like, that is a normal, real fear. And we take that so seriously here. I don't know if you guys know this, but we still, to this day, 2023, do all of our housing by hand. We literally do it by hand.

Rose is about experiences

31:49: Rose is so much more than the buildings. It's so much more than the cool labs. It's the people you meet. It's the experiences you have. And that's when you look back at what shapes your time at Rose-Hulman.

Guest Profile:

• Erik Hayes | Rose-Hulman
• Erik Hayes - LinkedIn

In our first ever podcast episode, Rose-Hulman Provost Dr. Rick Samper sits down with our student hosts Isaac and Reese to chat about his career path in STEM, becoming okay with failure, learning by doing in labs, and the beauty and creativity in engineering.

With extensive teaching and industry experience, Dr. Stamper’s background includes positions as an area manager at Proctor & Gamble, Design Team Leader at General Electric, and forming a small company to develop medical devices. Dr. Stamper has been featured in the Princeton Reviews Best 300 Professors book, and is among a handful of faculty to have received the Dean’s Outstanding Teacher and Board of Trustees Outstanding Scholar awards. He currently serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Rose-Hulman. 

Rethinking the multi-divisional model
02:01: There's lots of opportunities to be challenged, but STEM in general does a really nice job of that. The things you create, your ideas, are tested against reality. So, for instance, at Purdue, I designed a robot in 1988 that would catch a ball as it was rolling along a tabletop. Does the robot catch the ball or not? So, your ideas are tested against reality, and your failures are very evident in that case. So, it does a nice job of that. And as a result, it causes you to constantly question yourself and ask if you're seeing the world correctly. Are your internal models correct and suitable for the situation? I think that does a really nice job of preparing you to go off and actually be an engineer, mathematician, or scientist. And it makes you a little less fearful of failure, too. And I think that's important to not be too afraid of failure.

Creativity in STEM Education

15:57: One of the things our faculty do really well is to work in this creative aspect and give you a chance to exercise your creativity. And that's our own form of art.

STEM is beyond the pragmatic
51:40: There are a couple of different ways to look at why you'd want to study STEM. There are some really pragmatic reasons that everyone seems to be aware of: there are good careers in engineering, math, and science that provide a nice foundation for other careers. And so, you clearly have that return on investment argument; it stands up really well. And, as far as students, I'd encourage them not to overlook what appears to be mundane at first.

Guest Profile:

• Richard E. Stamper | Rose-Hulman
• Richard E. Stamper - LinkedIn

Rose Hulman is an elite STEM college located in Terre Haute, Indiana. We are ranked number one in undergraduate engineering by the U. S. News and World Report for 25 years and counting.

And we are here to help guide future STEM leaders through the maze of degree options in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Join student hosts Reese and Isaac as they delve into topics such as choosing the right major, navigating the college application process, uncovering hidden opportunities within the world of STEM and more. We'll feature interviews with educators and successful professionals, provide key industry insights, and give practical advice.

Here at RosePod, we can teach you all about how a STEM undergraduate degree can pave the path to a rewarding career.

Tune in this December, and let RosePod be your starting point to achieving your wildest dreams in the STEM universe.