The Institute - June 2020 - TI13

VICTORIA SERRANO
IS TAKING STEM BEYOND
THE CLASSROOM

ANGELICA CALDERON

EEE Member Victoria Serrano, an engineering professor at the Universidad
Tecnológica de Panamá in Chiriquí,
has come across many preuniversity
students who don't have a clue what
kinds of science, technology, engineering, and math careers are available. She
understood because she didn't become
interested in electrical engineering until
she was in high school.
In 2016 she decided to help such teens
by launching STEM Beyond the Borders.
The program used robots to teach preuniversity students in Panama about STEM
subjects. Classes were held not only in
classrooms but also in public marketplaces and church recreation rooms.
The program received financial support
from the IEEE Control Systems Society and
EPICS in IEEE, which aims to empower
students to apply technical solutions to aid

their communities. Today, Serrano continues her mission through independent
outreach efforts in the country.
For her work, Serrano received the
2019 IEEE Educational Activities Board
Meritorious Achievement Award in Outreach and Informal Education. The award
honors IEEE members who teach STEM
skills outside a classroom setting.
DISCOVERING HER PASSION

Serrano, born and raised in Panama,
found her calling for educational outreach while pursuing her master's degree
and doctorate in electrical engineering at
Arizona State University, in Tempe.
She says she was determined to focus
only on her studies; however, a fellow
graduate student, Michael Thompson,
asked her to help out at the university's
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

Victoria Serrano helps two
students install an infrared sensor
on their Lego Mindstorms robot.

chapter and the Mechanical-Autonomous
Vehicles Club, where students research,
design, and fly small radio-controlled aircraft. When Serrano visited local schools
on behalf of both organizations, she taught
the preuniversity students about mathematical concepts, using hands-on activities such as designing mechanical birds.
"When I realized what wonderful things
could be done through outreach programs in the United States, I wanted to
bring those types of projects to my home
country," Serrano says.
While creating the STEM Beyond the
Borders curriculum, she took inspiration from those volunteering activities.
INSPIRING STUDENTS

She says the most popular hands-on
activity she teaches today in Panama
is building Lego Mindstorms
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THE INSTITUTE

JUN 2020

TI-13

https://www.academia.utp.ac.pa/victoria-serrano/hoja-de-vida https://fso.engineering.asu.edu/project/asu-micro-air-vehicle-club/ http://mobility.utp.ac.pa/ https://fso.engineering.asu.edu/project/asu-micro-air-vehicle-club/ http://mobility.utp.ac.pa/ https://epics.ieee.org/projects/project-teaching-engineering-concepts-robotic-snakes/ https://www.asu.edu/ http://www.ieeecss.org/ https://epics.ieee.org/ http://www.shpedeasu.org/ https://education.lego.com/en-us/shop/mindstorms-ev3

The Institute - June 2020

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