Advancing Science Technology and Art
Advancing Science, Technology, and Art is a 501(c)(3) public charity based in San Diego, California, with the goal of spreading sustainable STEAM education locally and globally.
Our Mission
Our mission is to promote science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) education around the globe with focus on under-served communities. Our organization focuses on developing youth leaders in promoting STEAM education. Youth leaders have proved to be better ambassadors to inspire the next generation of youth; their success in turn inspires industry professionals to further our cause in educating the next generation.
OUR Programs
Founded in 2019, we strive to create sustainable STEAM programs here in San Diego and around the world. We support local robotics teams through competitions such as FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge, RoboSub, VRX, and RobotX, and create and sustain global robotics programs. The programs we offer are listed below:
Robotics competitions – We help all students, from elementary level to college graduate, who wish to participate in robotics competitions to find or create a team. We believe the competition environment fosters learning and drastically improves the students' technical, communication, and leadership skills. As part of their communication and leadership development, they teach and mentor other students in robotics, and volunteer at competitions and outreach events.
Robotics teaching and mentoring – Any students who are interested in robotics and need mentorship can apply. Organizations that promote STEAM education for their youth development program can also apply.
Hosting robotics competitions and scrimmages - We host scrimmages for local teams to prepare them for the regional robotics competitions. We also co-host robotics competitions.
Community outreach - We reach out to students in schools, science museums, STEAM fairs to encourage them to pursue study in STEAM fields.
Local Impact
We have promoted STEAM education to students with all backgrounds, including those with intellectual disabilities and other disadvantages. We teach robotics to kids and teens of Include Autism. We assist the Monarch School in integrating robotics training into their STEM curriculum for students impacted by homelessness. We also conduct summer robotics camps for under-privileged youths at UrbanLife Ministries.
We collaborate with Porpoise Robotics and University of San Diego’s College of Arts and Sciences in inspiring kids to explore STEAM activities. In addition, we engage students in exploring the field of STEM in major science fairs such as High Tech Faire, Science Expo, BE WiSE, and STEAM Maker Festival. We do events quarterly at the Fleet Science Center to show the public how fun and accessible robotics is. We teach robotics at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum as well.
We participate in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) events and encourage other students to join the community.
Global Impact
We mentor teams, promote STEAM education, and facilitate FIRST Global and other robotics programs in Benin, Bolivia, Ecuador, Eswatini, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, and Togo.
Benin
Our work in Benin, a West African country, has led to the use of robotics and STEAM education in over 20 schools. In August 2019, we traveled to Benin with local FRC Team Spyder to co-run their first nationwide robotics competition and to meet with government officials and the U.S. Ambassador in planning the expansion of STEAM education nationwide.
Paraguay
We have also worked hard to increase the presence of robotics—specifically FIRST programs—in Paraguay, a South American country. In November 2019, we traveled to Paraguay with local FRC Team Spyder to co-run a robotics competition in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. We also met with the head of the National University of Paraguay to plan for creating more robotics teams there.
