General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation (GASEF)

2020 GA Participants in GASSSS Program

These participants have submitted a final GASSSS application. 

If your name is not on this list and you have participated in the GASSSS program, please contact Larry Woolf at Lawrence.Woolf@ga-asi.com

GA GASSSS Participant Company School Materials Purchased Activity
Michael Deshler GA-ASI GA-ASI GA-ASI Deshler talked about cyber security and hacking including his recent experiences at a Hackathon associated with LA Auto Show developing applications for autonomous vehicle fleets. Deshler introduced students to UCSD computer engineering projects for the ECE-191 industry project course GA-ASI sponsors and agreed to act as judge for students’ “invention convention” in spring 2020
Alan Lui GA-ASI Dingeman Elementary School, San Diego, CA WeDo 2.0 Core Set by LEGO® Education; WeDo 2.0 Replacement Pack by LEGO® Education; WeDo 2.0 Medium Motor by LEGO® Education Received the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits, coordinated 2nd grade students to work in pairs along with 4th grade students that had experience using the WeDo kits (it’s the “buddy system” that we often use in these situations). The lesson is computer-based and I guided the students through the lesson which involved building a windmill, pairing the windmill to the computer via Bluetooth, then writing a simple program to control the windmill motor. Once the students reached success with getting their windmills to function, they were allowed to customize their windmills and the program that commands them.
Courtney Wainwright GA-ASI Jordan High School, Sandy UT None Mentor FRC students: provide engineering knowledge, manufacturing best practices, and project management best practices to support their robot build
Scott Register GA-ASI TutorMate (Walker Elementary – Santa Ana CA) None Participation in the TutorMate program for reading tutors.
Connie Nickerson GA-ASI TutorMate; Walker Elementary School, Santa Ana CA None Using TutorMate to help teach first grade student improve reading skills.
Paul Ferrell GA-EMS San Diego High School, San Diego CA Robot Parts I am the lead mentor for FIRST Robotics team #4583
Randy Elkins GA-ASI Magnolia Science Academy, San Diego CA Pirchased (1) VEQ IQ kit for the Robotics program at Magnolia Science Academy. Talked with sixth-grade members of the VEQ IQ Robotics team and specifically discussed how GA-ASI uses various technologies to command and control unmanned aerial vehicles remotely.
Nick Kemme GA-EMS Saint Augustine High School, San Diego CA Robotics parts (wheels, tools, and axle collars) and a variety of power tools (drill, driver, saw, drill bits, drill guides) were purchased for the classes to aid in their builds. I visited Saint Augustine High School twice, presenting about GA and engineering principles the first time along with helping the students build and test their designs. The second time, I helped them build new structures for the engineering class as well as provided more project help for the robotics class.
Colin Chrystal GA DETOUR (Depositing Empowerment Through Outreach & Urban Redevelopment), San Diego CA Students from the DETOUR group were able to arrange transportation to DIII-D for a presentation on fusion, a tour of the site, and two labs with equipment to take home: a basic spectrometer and electric motor. I organized the tour of DIII-D from the GA side: generated a pre-tour vocabulary sheet, gathered equipment into kits for the labs, recruited other tour guides, and ran the spectroscopy lab. The spectroscopy lab involved presentation of information about electromagnetic radiation, guided construction of simple spectrometers, and guided identification of gasses in discharge tubes
Stephani Swann GA-ASI American Association of University Women (AAUW) in conjunction with the San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools Alliance for Education and Victor Valley College STEM Department, Victorville, CA Each year, the local branch of the AAUW organizes and sponsors the “Celebrating Women in Math & Science” conference for 300 local 8th grade girls. Their cafeteria provides box lunches. Box lunches for 300 student participants and teachers/chaperones I presented a workshop for the participants called “How to Build a Drone.” We led the students in an activity to build their own version of the core materials used in the composite manufacturing process. The students were able to interact directly with composite pieces from the actual airplane and got to see the raw materials used in the manufacturing process.
Donna Mirabella GA-ASI Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary, San Diego CA Science To Go program at Fleet Science Center.; Forces in Action workshop Assisted in the classroom with the presentation. Shared my engineering career and aerospace experiences. Chaperoned a facilitated activity (rollercoaster build and aerospace parachute build) with students. Led small group activities. Answered questions regarding engineering careers.
Louie Wong GA-EMS Double Peak School, San Marcos CA Purchases 3 Samsung Galaxy tablets. The tablets have been setup with internet connectivity and the school approved coding apps have been uploaded to each tablet. I continue to return to the classroom on a weekly basis when my GA work schedule permits me to. I assist the kids with coding assignments. The children use the tablets to complete coding assignments.
Barton McDowell GA-ASI FRC Team NOMAD Inc., Escondido CA Purchase of miscellaneous robotics parts for FRC Team NOMAD Inc. competing in FIRST Robotics competitions. I serve as a Design and Mechanical Engineering Mentor for the FRC 6995 NOMAD team. I mentor the students in the team in all aspects of the competition. I will be ordering parts to use for the robotics for both education and competition.
Chad Rutherford GA-ASI Anaheim Elementary School District, Aanheim CA 1 Makeblock mBot Robot Kit that the kids assemble, that runs on software they code; 1 Apple iPad to code and operate the robot. We began with a PowerPoint giving an overall summary of GA-ASI, who we are, what we do etc. From there I talked about drones, the manufacturing/assembly process and how many people from many different backgrounds have a hand in the process. I touched on the people inspecting the parts, the people building the aircraft, the programmers and so on. After this, we broke up into teams of two students. Each student team had a robot kit to build and several adults including another GA employee helped the students assemble the robots as I demonstrated. Once we finished assembling the robots I talked about how they can be controlled by remote control or run programs that they create. We played with the programming feature of the robots using the iPad then let the kids control the robots outside on the playground.
Kerry Rutherford GA-ASI Anaheim Elementary School District, Aanheim CA 7 Makeblock mBot Robot kits that the kids assemble, that runs on software they code. We began with a PowerPoint giving an overall summary of GA-ASI, who we are, what we do etc. From there I talked about drones, the manufacturing/assembly process and how many people from many different backgrounds have a hand in the process. I touched on the people inspecting the parts, the people building the aircraft, the programmers and so on. After this, we broke up into teams of two students. Each student team had a robot kit to build and several adults including another GA employee helped the students assemble the robots as I demonstrated. Once we finished assembling the robots I talked about how they can be controlled by remote control or run programs that they create. We played with the programming feature of the robots using the iPad then let the kids control the robots outside on the playground.
Landon Carlson GA-EMS San Diego Regional Science Olympiad, San Diego, CA The funds were used to purchase tools and supplies to run multiple events at the annual regional Science Olympiad competition. I was the event captain for the Boomilever event for the middle school Science Olympiad competition with about 70 teams. I coordinated the preparation and event setup for the competition day, and all testing logistics. I directed 7 volunteers and was responsible for them to provide a consistent test scenario for each team of students to test the maximum weight their boomilever could hold.
Alan Woodward ‘Woody’ Snyder GA-ASI Salina South Middle School, Salina KS Programmable https://www.sphero.com/education/ robots and https://www.knex.com/knex-education-amusement-park-experience-set Presentation of Engineering, Aerodynamics and Flying to 140 middle school students in South Salina Middle School Careers Class– Q&A, then presented an introduction to General Atomics using http://www.ga.com/ Products and Services, showed the video from May 2018 Iki Island Japan flights http://www.ga-asi.com/iki-flights, then completed careers discussion using https://www.ga-careers.com/. Q&A.
Melissa Wallace GA-ASI Dingeman Elementary School, San Diego CA LEGO WeDo 2.0 sets, replacement pack, motor I was part of a group of parents that did the following: received the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits, coordinated 2nd grade students to work in pairs along with 4th grade students that had experience using the WeDo kits (it’s the “buddy system” that we often use in these situations). The lesson is computer-based and we guided the students through the lesson which involved building a windmill, pairing the windmill to the computer via Bluetooth, then writing a simple program to control the windmill motor. Once the students reached success with getting their windmills to function, they were allowed to customize their windmills and the program that commands them. This was a beginner level lesson that is designed for grades 1 thru 3.
Bernard Laguerre GA-ASI EXPO day at the Petco Park Science & Engineering Festival, San Diego CA None GA employees and I demonstrated how to use different STEM-related games and the technology fundamentals behind them for students ages 7-13. Some demos included Cue Robots that teach kids a fun way to code. Turing tumblers and interactive Virtual Reality (VR) games on the Oculus Rift were also available so that the kids could learn about electronics, app and game design.
Travis Evans GA-EMS Rolling Hills Elementary School, San Diego CA None Worked as a volunteer science fair judge at Rolling Hills Elementary school. Provided feedback on their projects and encouraged the children to learn more about Science and Engineering.
Lungsheng Sean Lin GA-EMS Arcadia High School, Arcadia CA Purchase a FRC control system, NI roboRIO am-3000 I have been the FRC mentor for 5 years. Mentoring students during FIRST robot construction, including short lecture of better design concept, system engineering, mechanic calculation, modification/suggestion to existing design.
Anh Truong GA-ASI Poway Unified School District, Poway CA None I attended a “career fair” at Poway middle schools to expose students to industry. - I introduced GA’s aircrafts to the students, encouraged students to engineer, specifically aerospace, and showed students different parts of the aircraft.
Lois Yu GA-ASI Society of Women Engineers - San Diego, CA None GA Booth Operator and STEM Advocate for San Diego Expo Day. Introduced engineering to attendees of Super STEM Saturday through demonstrations of Engineering machines and sharing experiences of what impact engineers have.
Doug Seybert GA-ASI Garden Road Elementary School, Poway CA Marble runs and Lego sets to build cars with. Using the purchased materials, we will perform activities to explore the motion of objects, including changes in speed and direction.
Mark Davis GA-ASI Empower Charter School, San Diego CA Insects and other invertebrates set in resin to observe with magnifying glasses. The children were split into 4 groups, and each child used a magnifying glass that the teacher provided to inspect the specimens. As they were inspecting each one, I used my time to talk to the class about invertebrates and exoskeletons.
Darrell Nakawaki GA-ASI Heritage K-6 Charter School, Escondido CA AmScope PS25 Prepared Microscope Slide Set for Basic Biological Science Education;
Swift SW350B 40X-2500X Magnification, Siedentopf Binocular Head, Research-Grade Compound Lab Microscope with Wide-Field 10X and 25X Eyepieces		 The teacher showed the microscope/slides and its basic functions over a virtual classroom session. Sample slides will note what specimens can be viewed via the slides. I reviewed microscope usage techniques using some sample images and compared various zoom views of sample specimens with images found over the internet. The teacher reviewed vocabulary, technical terms related to the specimens which were mostly insect and plant tissue. A short discussion covered observations seen in the slides.
Michael Allwein GA-ASI Pacheco Elementary, San Luis Obispo CA Document camera and microscopes. I supported Mr. Deutsch as the students explored the phenomenon of a unique multicellular organism, the Madagascar hissing cockroach. The students investigated the structures, function and behaviors as well as consider the organ structures that make its life possible..
Yangyang Yu GA-Asi Stone Ranch Elementary and Monetary Ridge Elementary, San Diego, CA

The fund will be used to purchase 1) Lego Education SPIKETM Prime Set and 2) Lego Education SPIKETM Prime Expansion Set. They are the required materials for the 2020-2021 FLL Challenge.

 Mentor FLL students: Robot Prototyping and Programming Skills (via ZOOM at the beginning and in-person when possible).
Christopher Friday GA-ASI Ada Harris School, Cardiff CA Programmable quad copter drone kits. For our team event we used Zoom Cloud meeting applications so we could present our career experiences in engineering to the elementary school students. The goal being to encourage them to become engineers by showing them the exciting and rewarding experiences related to engineering (e.g. travel, creativity of design, working on the cutting edge of technology, etc.). I gave a timeline of my career from law enforcement; software development for B2 and Missile Defense; to cybersecurity for GA-ASI.
Ben Muthig GA-ASI Abbott Lawrence Academy / Merrimack College, Lawrence MA None Zoom presentation was performed for Abbott Lawrence Academy (Lawrence, MA) Seniors who are in a joint Intro to Engineering Class with Merrimack College and who are currently applying to engineering schools. My academic and professional engineering experiences were shared along with helpful advice and insights for their future engineering journey.
Kent Hurlbert GA-ASI Ada Harris Elementary, Cardiff CA Programmable quad copter drone kits. Students will be get to learn about unmanned aircraft. These particular kits will be entry level so the children will be more involved in programming and flying them Supported Zoom online meeting with kids from teacher class and described to the class on what I do for GA as a network engineering and how it is applicable to their real world everyday use of computers and mobile devices.
Michael Deshler GA-ASI Ada Harris School, Cardiff CA 2 Tello quad copter programmable drone combo kits with chargers and cables; solar experiment kit and materials for some demonstration solar panel; 1/16th size model cars.
The programmable quad copter drones add to a fleet of quad copter drones totaling 14, for use by Ada Harris students. These drones were purchased by 4 GA engineers as part of this school outreach.		 For our team event we used Zoom Cloud meeting applications so we could present our career experiences in engineering to the elementary school students. I gave a timeline of my career from law enforcement; software development for B2 and Missile Defense; to cybersecurity for GA-ASI.
Shawna Hamon GA Poway High School, Poway CA Rev Robotics components for the robot build; 4 Logitech F310 Game Pad Controllers (used to control the robots). 2 for FRC (First Robotics Competition) team and 2 for FTC (First Tech Challenge) team Worked with FTC group lead to discuss component needs for the two robots. FTC is the group within Spyder 1622 that builds and programs the robot used in the FTC competition ; Attended zoom meeting for general support / understanding of mission; On-call for PC support.
Chau Nguyen GA-ASI Harriet Tubman Village Charter, San Diego CA 48 Pack Microscope Slide Collection of Insect Animal and Plant Specimens for Basic Biology Education and Science Exhibition Projects for Kids & Students; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Earth Science Kit ; Original Stationery Galaxy Slime Kit; Nature Bound Toys Butterfly Garden Habitat & Terrarium, 24 Inches Tall with Large Zipper Larvae Coupon; 7 - Kids Science Experiment Kit with Lab Coat Scientist; other supplies Visited via ZOOM to work with students on the process of investigating and making hypotheses on things that might happen when compounds are added together. Chau introduced and familiarized the students with the kits that were delivered to them. The second graders were taught about basic chemistry and what makes chemical interact with one another. The students used their slime kits during the live zoom demonstration, and created their own slime. As closing, Chau was able to interact with individual students and introduce them to possible science and engineer futures that are specific to each student. He also was able to discuss about all the futuristic technologies that GA is working on and bringing it to life.
Megan Ameng GA-ASI Poway Unified School District, Poway CA None I supported a career fair for middle school students to highlight General Atomics and encourage students to follow a STEM career path. I interacted with the students by asking them what they were interested in, sharing what career opportunities were available at GA, and explaining the show and tell pieces displayed on the table.
Kristi Lucas GA-ASI Poway Unified School District, Poway CA None I supported a career fair for middle school students to highlight General Atomics and encourage students to follow a STEM career path. I interacted with the students by asking them what they were interested in, sharing what career opportunities were available at GA, and explaining the show and tell pieces displayed on the table.
Thomas Dittmann GA-ASI Apsen Leaf Preschool, San Diego CA

Math manipulatives, plant kit, sensory bin, color stacking learning activity, rainbow learning set, oversize laminated book, and other science activities for the classroom.

I laminated class handouts showing the color circle and how nearby colors combine. I created a class activity to show the mixing of colors (the kids used a wide variety of methods to mix colors together: wax paper and food coloring, markers, pencils, watercolors, paint, playdough, color viewers, colored ice cubes). I also presented the teachers with the purchased math and science materials.
ThuyTien Phung GA-EMS Rolling Hills elementary school, San Diego CA 2 WeDo 2.0 Core Set by LEGO® Education; 2 WeDo 2.0 Replacement Pack by LEGO® Education I coordinated four 2nd grade students to work in pairs to use the WeDo kits (it’s the “buddy system” that the kits provided). I gave computer-based lessons and I guided the students through the lesson which involved building a helicopter, pairing the helicopter to the computer via Bluetooth, then writing a simple program to control the helicopter motor. The kids were allowed to customize their helicopter and the program that commands them.