In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, we’re excited to spotlight innovators in Engineering of Latin American heritage!  

As of 2015, only 6% of jobs in Engineering fields were held by Latino professionals (NSF), but there are amazing Hispanic engineers who are paving the way for the next generation of Latinx engineering professionals. We can always use more role models to look up to, so these three trailblazers are names to know in engineering -- and a little about their work re-imagining solutions to everyday problems.

Solving food scarcity. Preventing viral outbreaks. Designing buildings to withstand natural disasters. Through Engineering Adventures and Engineering Everywhere, learners across the country have proposed unique, data-driven solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. These flexible curricula were tested in afterschool and summer programs, but classroom educators across the country have been implementing them into their STEM instruction for years. Just ask Camie Walker, the Utah educator who was featured on our blog in 2016 for her incredible work with the Engineering Adventures unit Shake Things Up: Engineering Earthquake-Resistant Buildings. She chose units from EiE’s flexible curricula because she loves creating opportunities for learners to connect what they’re learning to the world around them and to follow their STEM interests and passions.

We sat down with Walker to learn how she uses flexible curricula to foster an inquiry-based, globally focused culture in her classroom that leads to plenty of real-world connections, and even the chance to perform with a Mythbuster!

It’s a groundbreaking year for Battle Ground Elementary School in Battle Ground, Indiana. For the first time, teachers across all grade levels will be using EiE. For many of them, EiE will be brand new, but they have experts in their midst: principal John Pearl and veteran fifth-grade science educator Diane Lehman have been championing EiE for 10 years. In the past decade, they’ve seen how EiE sets learners up for success in later grades, levels the playing field, and opens the doors for exciting real-world connections. Now, they’re ready to share everything they’ve learned with the educators in their school and across their district, so they can help even more learners discover their STEM identity.

This blog was originally posted on January 7, 2016.

We’re always interested to learn how districts adopt and implement the EiE curriculum. One challenge many districts face is simply finding the funds for curriculum materials, another is building consensus and enthusiasm among teachers.

Amphitheater Unified School District in Tucson is a great example of a district that’s seeing a highly successful EiE implementation despite serious budget constraints.

The June 2015 online issue of Educational Leadership explores the theme “ Improving Schools from Within.” The magazine invited educators to share stories of schools that changed for the better—and how they did it. 

Emily Hardee, a North Carolina STEM coordinator, tells the story of a Raleigh elementary school that transformed itself from one of the lowest performing schools in the district into a STEM school that’s a model for the state. We’re gratified to know that the Engineering is Elementary curriculum played a part in the change.