STEAM Week Full of Events and Guest Speakers

May 5, 2023

The 2nd annual Rob Stupka STEAM Week, in honor of Rob Stupka '02, was held April 24 - 28. “Making the World Better” was the theme. The week is intended to introduce CDH students to Rob's story and to the countless different opportunities available to them in STEAM fields. Two CDH students, Ariana Awiszus '24 and Mickey Coenen '25, were presented with Cretin-Derham Hall board of Directors STEAM Scholarships which go to two students with an affinity, ability, and strong interest in STEAM. 

There were several events throughout the week and many distinguished presenters came in to talk to the students about their own experiences in STEM and to share their knowledge. Some of the events included a presentation from Rob Stupka's parents, Bob '73 and Diane Stupka, about Rob's story and why supporting STEM means so much to them, a 9th grade science and engineering workshop, drone racing, virtual reality, a robotics open house, a prairie restoration workshop, a middle school STEAM workshop, and a STEM and Ethics presentation.

Rob's love of science started at an early age and was cultivated during his time at CDH. His parents hope that this week encourages more students to follow in his footsteps. 

"We know it's not going to be for everyone, but we would hope all of them find a passion and we hope a lot of them find it in science." said Bob. "We just hope they find something that they love as much as Rob loved what he was doing and keep going forward and doing great things with the rest of their lives."

Presenters

Jazmine Darden, Director of the Young Inventor Challenge with People of Play, worked with our 9th grade students during their Science & Engineering class. Darden is responsible for providing an opportunity for children to develop and pitch their original inventions to major toy and game companies and industry professionals. Because of her role hosting the Young Inventor Challenge Awards Show, Darden was asked to participate in interviews for the History Channel's “The Toys that Built America”. Recently, Darden was selected as one of the 2022 Women in Business Honorees by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Darden is a college professor at Dunwoody College in their Design for Manufacturing: 3D Printing department. 

Dr. Taviare Hawkins addressed our 11th grade students. Dr. Hawkins is a Professor of Physics at St. Catherine University and an experienced Division Chair with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. In addition to performing the Chair duties, she is skilled in teaching introductory and advanced courses in Physics and mentoring students in experimental biophysics research. Dr. Hawkins is a strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy - Ph.D. focused in Physics from Syracuse University. During her interview with CBS News focusing on paving the way for black women in STEM, Dr. Hawkins says of her students, "They won't have to go through the many firsts that I have. There won't be a first Black woman to graduate from the University of Iowa, I already did that. There won't be the first one from Syracuse, I already did that. There won't be a first Black woman division chair, I already did that. So now they just get to write their story in history."

Nick Montelibano ’12 addressed our 10th grade students about his work as a software consultant. Nick specializes in solving problems with software. From developing firmware for implantable medical devices, to architecting state-of-the-art software solutions for a medical monitor, he has a wide variety of software expertise to push projects to completion. Montelibano graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. After holding many jobs in his career, he is now an independent software engineer. He is one of our current Robotics coaches at CDH!

Amy Hostetler addressed our 10th grade students about her work at Medtronic as a Senior Systems Engineer. Hostetler graduated from Iowa State University with a Backelor Degree in Computer Engineering, she later earned a Master of Science from Purdue University in Interdisciplinary Engineering. Hostetler worked as a software engineer at Minnetronix Medical, a medical device company. Now she's a senior systems engineer at Medtronic. 

Kristy Simmons '93 was one of our STEM and Ethics presenters. She is the Vice President of Quality at Medtronic’s Cardiac Ablation Solutions Business. Simons leads all Quality activities for the function with responsibilities spanning pre and post market reliability engineering, safety, compliance, quality systems, and service. She drives quality strategy, planning, budgeting, and oversight to a global team of employees. Simons is an adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering and has over 25 years of experience in the Medical Device Industry. Simons holds a Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems from the University of Saint Thomas and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Saint Norbert College.

Emily Mishek '96 was one of our STEM and Ethics presenters. She is the Director of Quality and Safety at Park Nicollet Health Services where she leads teams of doers, fixers, strategists & critical thinkers. Mishek is a passionate healthcare leader with a foundation in patient-centered quality thinking. She has expertise in the complexities of problem assessment, risk analysis, rapid design, data driven improvement, and focused strategy development. Michek is an active member of senior leadership team/HealthPartners organizational response to COVID pandemic. Mishek has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of St. Thomas and a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from the University of Minnesota. Along with her work to improve the quality and safety of our health. care system, Mishek has been a volunteer at Dorothy Day Center for over 11 years.

Brenna Loufek, Regulatory Affairs - Digital Health | FemTech | AI/ML, Mayo Clinic, was one of our STEM and Ethics presenters. She is an experienced regulatory specialist with a history of providing pre-market strategies to innovators seeking guidance on US FDA regulations for AI/ML-enabled digital health technologies. Interests include CDS software, FemTech, operationalizing regulatory processes, and institutional accountability. Loufek is on the board of the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) which represents health care professionals in four professional areas: clinical systems, information systems, management engineering, and telecommunications. Loufek is a doctoral student seeking a Doctorate of Philosophy in Evidence-Based Healthcare from the University of Oxford. She holds a Master of Science in Patent Safety and Healthcare Quality from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Anthropology, and Spanish from the University of Minnesota.

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