Maeder shares STEM knowledge at WTEA

March 29, 2018

By David Nordby The Brillion News

WISCONSIN DELLS – Hannah Maeder is sharing her expansive knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) principles that she first started acquiring while she was a student in Brillion.

Maeder was one of five University of Wisconsin-Platteville students with Dr. Bandara Gamini, a faculty member, who made a hands-on presentation at the recent Wisconsin Technology Educators Association (WTEA) annual conference in Wisconsin Dells.

The students led the hands-on program at the conference where they interfaced, wrote code and ran the microcontroller-based program. They also showed off experiments interfacing motors, robotic programs and LCD displays.

It sounds complex, but Gamini says that the theme of the conference “Moving STEM Forward” was a strong fit for the presentation that used Arduinos, a company that manufactures microcontrollers.

Many schools, K-12 and college, have adopted Arduinos to gain access to affordable, high quality experiences, Gamini says. Arduino implementations are wide-ranging including mechanical systems, WiFi connectivity and other programming.

The 2016 Brillion High School graduate was one of two sophomores on the team. She says that being mixed with older students was her favorite part of the endeavor.

“In college there is not a lot of classes that have mixed grade levels, so it was nice to see where my education would get me in two years,” Maeder said.

Maeder is an industrial technology management major with an emphasis in manufacturing technology management and a minor in industrial control systems.

WTEA is a group made up of K-12 educators in Wisconsin and includes public schools, private schools, correctional institutions, technical colleges, universities and instructors from all levels.

Former Brillion High School teacher Steve Meyer has been the president of the association for the last two years and on the board for around 15 years. Like a lot of students who sat in Meyer’s classroom in Brillion seem to do, Maeder credits him as the person who helped her find her STEM passion and get a head start while still in high school. The two were able to catch up at the conference, Maeder says.

“Steve Meyer was actually the teacher that affected my passion for STEM and my passion for electronics,” Maeder said.

Please see the complete story in the March 29, 2018 edition of The Brillion News.