General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation (GASEF)

2025 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
Kevin Cardinal GA-ASI James Dukes Elementary, Ramona CA BambuLab A1 Combo 3D Printer Real time 3D printing workshop. Brief history about General Atomics and 3D printing.
Donna Mirabella GA-ASI Girl Scouts of America, San Diego CA One (1) LEGO Education Spike Prime Set. Set is part of the LEGO® Learning System and is the go-to
STEAM learning kit for grade 6-8 students. This kit combines colorful LEGO building elements, easyto-
use hardware, and intuitive drag-and-drop coding language based on Scratch to continuously
engage students through playful learning activities by encouraging them to think critically and solve
complex problems, regardless of their learning level.		 Chaperoned Girl Scout troop at free Robotics event on
10/26. Girl Scouts built robots at event using LEGO kit to
work toward earning a Robotics badge in designing,
programming, and/or showcasing.  Girl Scouts will be building robots at event using LEGO kit.
Carla Slater Kettrick GA-ASI Deer Canyon Elementary, San Diego CA None Deer Canyon Elementary STEAM Night; Set up display table. Showcased GA models (3D printed parts and UAV models) and photos of products. Demonstrated elementary-level examples of GA technologies used in the development of products. Shared with kids information on the products GA produces. Talked with kids and parents about the company and the engineering discipline.
Daren Wade GA-ASI Cal State San Marcos Super STEM Saturday 2024, San Marcos CA None Demonstration of electrical and physical principles
Paul Ferrell GA-EMS Canyon Hills High School, San Diego CA Robot Parts I am mentoring for FIRST Robotics team #1266.  I attended the team meeting on March 14th and assisted in mentoring the team and placed the order for additional components for them.
James Rudden GA-ASI Marshall Middle School, San Diego CA FIRST LEGO® League Challenge Team Registration;  Challenge Set; FIRST LEGO® League Challenge Qualifying Tournament Entry Fee  Coached robotics team to include design, coding, presentation of Lego robot to judging panels. Additionally, coached the team to create an innovation project to create an invention for helping people explore the ocean per the season theme of “Submerged.” This has resulted in the kids meeting with and getting feedback from various experts in this area. They have become adept at articulating their concepts and ideas, getting feedback from experts, then iterating on their concepts and ideas.
Michelle Colatutto  GA-ASI R&D Robotics Education, San Diego CA FIRST LEGO League team kit for Challenge team and team event registration for the challenge and explore teams. Leading the explore team weekly meetings, guiding students through the lessons, team build and coding and practice of robot game.
Delmi Lugo GA-ASI Project Next Connect to Careers, San Marcos CA None Met with various students before, during and after the event. Discussed opportunities within GA and the types of skills required. Also met with students that were interested in other areas such as nursing, health care and teaching. Due to my wife’s experience within that area, I was able to explain the requirements, type of work she performs and provide sources of information that they can look for more information.
Anna Sophia Rorrer Warren GA-EMS University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO None As a mentor for the CU Boulder Aerospace Engineering Senior Design course I provided advising for three teams of a total of 37 students as they learn the project lifecycle. Every week I met with each group for a minimum of a half hour and at each review I would spend time providing feedback for their presentations. As a part of my advising, I worked with other employees (including other recent CU Alum) at GA to provide additional feedback and input to help improve their projects. In October, I drove to Boulder along with Matthew Januszewski to hold an in-person mentoring meeting. This provided the teams with a chance to ask questions about their projects, industry, and General Atomics in a face-to-face setting. Through November, I coordinated to connect the teams with Lukas Brettmann and his team to get feedback for control systems and modelling as well as conveying lessons learned from August Hauter regarding his senior design project of a similar type at CU Boulder. This semester was very successful, and all teams successfully completed their CDR presentations as of December 11, which included their plans to continue developing their designs and conducting tests in the spring semester.
Jennifer Adkinson GA-SI Superior Hills-Marquette Area Public Schools, Marquette MI STEM supplies for first grade classroom Volunteered in the classroom assisting teaches with the activities purchased.
Roselynn Conrady  GA-EMS Greater Than Tech, San Diego CA None For 5 Middle and high school underserved girls, I will be a judge for their business pitch to determine who will be the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams for a scholarship for their work on their optical sensor capstone projects.
George Katsanis GA-ASI Shoal Creek Elementary School, San Diego CA
First Lego League Explore Team Registration (includes Explore Lego set); Lego Education SPIKE Essential Kit		 Lead coach for his team of six students and helped lead the FLL Robot Club at Shoal Creek Elementary where we had a total of five FLL Explore teams (including David’s team and George’s team). George hosted all of his team’s weekly meetings in his home, led the kids through a series of lessons on the Ocean (this year’s FLL theme), and led the kids in developing SPIKE programs for the robot competition. 
David Duncan GA-EMS Shoal Creek Elementary School, San Diego CA
First Lego League Explore Team Registration (includes Explore Lego set); Lego Education SPIKE Essential Kit		 Worked with his team to help them develop SPIKE programs to maneuver their Lego robots for the Explore League robot competition. David also supported his team at the FLL Festival at High Tech High on 12/14/24 where the kids presented their work and participated in the robot competition. 
Levi Parsell  GA-ASI Rowan Elementary School, San Diego CA Rowan elementary school is starting a robotics club, requesting funding to support lab setup, equipment and material etc. I used funding to buy storage solution for Rowan Elementary' s Robotics club and a USB charging hub for the LEGO parts. I helped start a Robotics Club at Rowan Elementary School. We are in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge. So far we have had two very successful meetings.
Timothy Bleakley GA-ASI Ramona High School, Ramona CA None One of a panel of professional engineers providing mentoring and project reviews for the senior Engineering class and their Capstone design projects.  The design projects begin in the Fall semester and continue throughout the academic year, and are performed in small teams.  Mentors meet regularly with their assigned teams and participate in whole-class activities, including the formal project reviews/assessments. This report covers the Winter/Spring semester of the 23/24 academic year, and the Fall semester of the 24/25 year.
Breanna Bergado GA-ASI Valle Lindo Elementary School, Chula Vista CA 15 Lego Race Car Stem Activity Kits Spent time with students explaining basic principles of engineering and examples they can relate to. Demonstrated and walked students building a specific race car and how different components changed the cars functionality.
Ignatius Widjaja GA-ASI Poway High School, Poway CA Parts for FIRST Robotics Competition Robot in 2024. Throughout the school year, mentored high school students using the engineering process, taught presentation skills and provided career guidance. Also, referee’d at robotics competitions that the team was hosting.
Doug Seybert GA-ASI Jerabek Elementary School, San Diego CA 2 sets of Tuning forks, 2 tuning forks with resonance boxes, a Bluetooth speaker, straws, cups, and other supplies to make instruments in the classroom and show physical behavior related to sound waves I presented a set of slides to the class talking about sound waves. I used the tuning forks to demonstrate the difference in sound generated from different tuning forks and passed them around for the kids to try for themselves. I used a phone app to show the waveform created by the sounds and discussed physically what was happening when sound is generated and traveling through different medium. We finished up with making reed instruments out of straws and cutting them to different lengths to see how it impacted the sound. 
David Eldon  GA Pacific Rim Elementary, Carlsbad CA I purchased components for constructing additional magnetism demonstrations. That is: strong magnets and plastic pipes to hold and cushion them to allow children to handle them safely. Wooden dowels were also purchased as part of the system of fixing the magnets in place in the pipes. I went to Pacific Rim Elementary in Carlsbad and gave a presentation on plasma, temperature, magnetism, and fusion. I explained the difference between gas and plasma, the meaning of temperature at the atomic level, how plasma is made, how magnets are used to trap plasma, and how we drive current in our plasma with magnetic induction. These explanations were supported with demonstrations using apparatus borrowed from the DIII-D tour program. With the exception of liquid nitrogen, the demonstrations were hands on. I delivered this as a 40 minute presentation, repeated for five groups of fourth graders. They were very engaged! I'm thankful for the demonstration equipment we have available; the kids really enjoyed it!
Bryce Kelford  GA-ASI Coastal Christian Academy, Clairemont CA Lego Spike kit--including micro-controller for first Lego league competition. Medium motors (2x) I am co-coach on the team.   I have been advising and guiding the students on how to break the problem down into smaller steps and helping them to characterize what to solve so that they can be more focused in the solution that they come up with. I have been asking them probing questions about what benefits and shortcomings they believe their design will result in during testing. 
Clayton Shallcross  GA-EMS San Pasqual High School, Escondido CA Qty 7: BeeSpi v Self-Contained Photogates. This hardware will be used to improve the accuracy of velocity measurements, which are currently being done with a stop watch and yard stick. In addition, the students can then compare the values obtained by the stop watch and photogate method to develop an understanding of factors that influence measurement precision and accuracy. I visited San Pasqual High School and helped students in 3 physics classes with their bumper project. At the beginning of each class, I gave the students a quick, ca. 7 min presentation (reviewed and authorized by my manager) about my career at GA-EMS and specifically discussed my experience with R&D in an industry setting. During my time in class, I helped the students with their project goal of designing, manufacturing, and testing the influence of different car bumper materials on the collision force and duration between a model scale car released from the top of a two meter ramp and fixed force sensor at the bottom of the ramp.
Timothy Bleakley GA-ASI Ramona High School, Ramona CA Supplies for design team prototypes: VOC air filter, 3D printer filament, cell phone cooler. One of a panel of professional engineers providing mentoring and project reviews for the junior/senior Engineering class and their Capstone design projects.  Classroom visits to mentor two design teams, meetings with teacher and other mentors, ordering supplies.
Joshua Pine GA-ASI Cal State San Marcos, San Marcos CA None Talking to children and parents about math and science and how those things relate to a career in aerospace or engineering in general.  Performing demonstrations of fundamental electromagnetic phenomenon. Demonstrating additive manufacturing.
Aaron Sathrum GA-EMS Rolling Hills Elementary School, San Diego CA None Judged TK-5th grade science fair projects (~60) at Rolling Hills Elementary School.
Stevie Jacobson, Robin Jacobson GA-ASI Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair, San Diego CA None We will be supporting the AIAA San Diego Section in judging aerospace-related science fair projects at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Spoke with students about their science fair projects and selected 2 winners to be recognized at the AIAA-SD awards banqut in May 2025. 
Veronica Begay  GA-EMS West Valley High School, Hemet CA Books for the classroom to keep: The Wright Brothers, 1,000 Facts About Space, Flight: The Complete History of Aviation; Supplies: Paper, Markers, Scissors, Rulers, Tape and Glue
Activity Group Prizes: 15 3D Wooden Airplane Models Puzzles		 Visited my alma mater, a high school in a low-income area, to share my experiences as a college student and engineer and how pursuing a STEM career is achievable, even for students from similar backgrounds. Performed group activity centered around a paper airplane competition.
Nina Langley  GA Science  Olympiad, San Diego CA None GA employee led the Helicopters Event for the San Diego Regional Science Olympiad, held at USD. This consisted of giving volunteer proctors on-the-job training, evaluating student-built helicopters & flight-logs based on design criteria, timing helicopter flights, and inputting scores.
John Zinck  GA-SI Benson Primary School, Benson AZ None Coached a 3rd grade First Lego League Team. During weekly team meetings. First Lego League uses Lego kits to teach science and technology principles. This year's topic was "Submerged." We learned about the different zones in the ocean, and what kinds of life live in each zone. We also came up with ways to improve the ocean. The students designed an autonomous robot that would identify and remove trash from the ocean.
Teresa Konopka  GA-ASI  UC Irvine - high school, undergraduate, and graduate, AIAA, Irvine CA Travel expenses for AIAA science projects I judged the AIAA Region 6 Student Conference. High school and undergraduates presented on various aerospace topics. I graded them on technical content, originality, and presentation skills. I also mentored the students and gave them career advice.
William Welch  GA-ASI Maranatha Christian Schools, San Diego CA Various electronic parts for the students project which is a lockbox for phones while driving. An LCD screen and accelerometer that is comparable with the Arduino Nano. I am currently acting as a sounding board for a group of students working a proposed lock box design and am advising them as they progress through their design process. As I continue with Maranatha's STEM program, I will act as a reviewer and audience member of other designs as they are presented at the end of the year. There will also be an opportunity for me to present on the engineering field as a whole at an upcoming STEM career day.  I worked with the students to develop a BOM.
Julia Folkl  GA-ASI FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Team 17062: The Techalongs, Scottsdale AZ GoBilda Drivetrain for use by Robotics team in competition Reviewed competition rules and team poster for competition. Attended Robotics practice, answered questions about my experience. Acted as a stand in judge for the team's presentation of their robot design, competition strategy, and outreach/mentorship efforts. Note: The girls had a phenomenal performance the following weekend, and won the Inspire award, granting them admission to Worlds, an extraordinary feat!