Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2017

finally converted to a software engineer two years
ago.”
to do real science with the device that is already
in their pocket.”
Katie is now a part of the Making & Science team
at Google. They are encouraged to do projects
such as “Hugbot”—her entry at a Maker Faire last
year—a design created by welding a tricycle out
of a unicycle, a bicycle and steel tubing.
“My team wants to inspire and empower people
to consider themselves scientists and makers, so
we do things like run the Google booth at Maker
Faires and we worked with scientists to organize
a Megamovie for the 2017 eclipse,” she explains.
On her team, Katie focuses her work on an open
source app known as
the Science Journal.
“It’s a tool that lets you
observe real-world data
by using the sensors
in the phone. It also
records data, organize
experiments, and take
Coming full circle, Katie has not only worked to
help other students explore science, but also
remembered the teacher who helped her define
herself as an engineer. Earlier this year, Katie
sent a message to Debbie, thanking her for
the kindergarten experience. Even after years
since Duke School, she still vividly recalls her
exploratory learning.
“Now that I’m on the Making & Science team
at Google, I feel once again like the ‘Queen of
Useful Junk,’” she says. “From preschool to fifth
grade, we were always
making and building—
sewing, knitting, sawing,
cooking, building fences,
gardening, sculpting,
painting,” she says.
“Always learning handson,
by doing.”
notes,” she says. “We
want to enable students
UNDER THE OAK
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