GineersNow Engineering News Magazine Issue 3

60 ISSUE NO.003 WOMEN IN TECH & ENGINEERING
ROBOMATTER:
A Global Leader in
STEM Education
Robomatter is a private company that focuses
on STEM Education and was founded
in 2003 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University. The company’s mission is
to prepare students to compete in the developing
economy. Their well-researched,
proven methods and educational technology
allows them to offer high quality
STEM education, which prepares their
students to excel in the future.
According to their website, they use “motivational
effects of robotics to excite students
about computer science, science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.
ROBOTS and ROBOTICS integrate
math, science, engineering, and technology
in ways that motivate and excite students.”
GineersNow was able to get an exclusive
interview with Robomatter Inc.’s President
and CEO, James “Skip” Smith.
THE PRESIDENT AND CEO
GN: Introduce yourself.
SKIP: James “Skip” Smith, President and
CEO of Robomatter, Incorporated.
I grew up in a small town on the east coast
of Florida, in the shadow of the Kennedy
Space Center. In fact, my first job was
working as a computer operator at the
Kennedy Space Center. I worked with a
group called Launch Process Support and
our job was to help support space shuttle
launches.
GN: How many years have you been working
in your industry?
SKIP: I got my first job in technology in
1986 and have been working in the industry
ever since. I have spent a good deal of
my time working in financial technology
(FinTech), which enabled me to see, first
hand, the need for quality technology education
at all levels. Working in FinTech,
I became aware of the critical skills that
are needed by employers, and the gap that
often exists with employees entering the
workplace. In today’s world, technology
skills aren’t optional – they’re essential,
and it’s surprising how many people are
lacking in basic, essential skills.
I joined Robomatter in early 2015, and
before joining Robomatter, I was the
President of iCarnegie Global Learning,
which provided educational strategy to
governments, businesses, and institutions
around the world. I’ve found that one of
the most rewarding things about working
with educational technology (Ed Tech) is
being able to educate the youth and make
a difference in their lives. While visiting
one of our customers in India, I met with
a group of students who had been using
our STEM curriculum. During our conversation,
one of the students said to me,
“Because of what I learned using your curriculum,
I believe I can be an astronaut.”
Moments like that help to clarify the importance
of what we’re doing.
GN: Tell us some personal stories that engineers
will like to hear. Tell us what other
people don’t know about SKIP.
SKIP: One of the first programs I wrote
as a professional was a program for a
mainframe computer that had been programmed
to boot from a card deck. The
program I created replaced the card deck
and enabled the mainframe to boot from a
magnetic tape instead. While that sounds
like such old technology now, it’s interesting
think about how much technology has
progressed in the last few decades, and
how much it will progress in the decades
to come. That’s one of the reasons that
STEM education is so important.