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Andrew Davidson on filling the STEM outreach pipeline

Leah Pistorius
April 12, 2019

Andrew Davidson, Senior Lecturer in Human Centered Design & Engineering, gave a keynote presentation about his work leading Engineering-focused K-12 outreach programs as part of the Interaction Design Association's Interaction Design Education Summit on February 4, 2019.

Davidson works with UW students to design and facilitate outreach efforts aimed at motivating young learners to explore STEM programs. 

In the presentation, Davidson says that when college students participate in outreach, it is a reflective activity that improves their own learning. He has also found that college students enjoy sharing their experiences and knowledge with a younger generation. "The thing that I've heard most often from our students who get involved in this sort of work is, 'if I had known when I was that age about this field or that this existed, it would have changed my life.' And so what we're trying to do—what I love hearing from our students—is, 'I want to give back to the communities where I came from, and see if I can help young students have, earlier, the opportunity to participate in the kinds of things that I'm enjoying as a college student.'"

Watch the video of Davidson's presentation, Filling the Pipeline: K-12 Outreach in Human Centered Design: