Tag: stem

Robots, STEM, and Community: Supporting Foothill Robotics Club’s Dreams

Richard Li, IT Technical Project Manager at Simpson Strong-Tie and a parent of a student involved with Foothill Robotics Club, recognized the potential for Simpson Strong-Tie to support the local community by sponsoring the club. Our commitment to giving back is a fundamental aspect of our core values. The club serves as an excellent gateway for students to delve into the world of STEM and engage in VEX robotic competitions. Learn how the team visited our Pleasanton, California office and even gave a demonstration of their robot. 

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Behind the Scenes with our McKinney R&D Lab Manager

When developing quality products at Simpson Strong-Tie, we invest considerable resources into testing their strength and performance in the expected field applications. We have a number of labs across our branches to help us do this. One individual who helps make that happen is our McKinney, Texas R&D Lab Manager Francisco Hernandez. In this blog, Francisco shares what he does in his role and his journey with Simpson Strong-Tie. 

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The 2022 Simpson Strong-Tie Scholarship Student Trip 

Each year, Simpson Strong-Tie provides scholarships to students studying in the engineering field. Besides the scholarship, we also offer an all-expenses–paid trip to the Bay Area to tour our lab, meet our engineers and do a bit of sightseeing. Training Coordinator Sam Marcoux discusses this year’s scholarship trip and reports from the students about their experience.  

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Bring Your Child to Work Day from Columbus, Ohio 

HR Coordinator Kayla Wells and her team hosted a Bring Your Child To Work Day event at our Columbus, Ohio branch. Read about the activities parents shared with their kids on this special day.

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A Woman In Engineering: How I Break the Bias  

March 8, 2022 is International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is “Break the Bias” which asks participants to imagine a gender equal world. Simpson Strong-Tie Engineering Supervisor for the Southwest United States, Rachel Holland, shares her story of being a woman in engineering and how she works to create change in her field by mentoring young women interested in STEM.

When I was young, no one mentioned how rare female engineers were. Perhaps I didn’t do my research to figure that out on my own. In fairness, though, there tended to be an equal number of female and male students in the classes I took in high school. However, by day one as an architectural engineering freshman at Cal Poly SLO, I could already tell the vast majority of my classmates for the next five years were going to be boys. Therefore, that was a big change — and a telling clue about my future career path.  

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Engineering with Kids: Popsicle Sticks, Spaghetti and Marshmallows

Back in March, a few colleagues and I were discussing how to prepare kids for college. With that subject in mind, I wanted to do something fun and meaningful for the kids in our community. So I organized some workshops in my back yard focused on engineering with kids who might be interested in exploring structural engineering — and summer was the perfect time to do it! We had a group of 12 kids, aged 7–11, who signed up and were all set to explore some engineering concepts. It was a learning experience for me, as well!
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