Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Engineers' Foundation of Kansas on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 315
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We talk with Tom Roberts about how the Engineers Foundation of Kansas turns donations into hands-on STEM opportunities for students across the state. We dig into robotics, MathCounts, Future City, and why AI makes critical thinking more important, not less.
• what the Engineers Foundation of Kansas is and why it exists
• how statewide support strengthens the engineering pipeline in Kansas
• using grants for Lego Mindstorms kits and MathCounts memberships
• why robotics teaches logic, design, teamwork, and accountability
• how the Little Apple Cyborgs reached national competition with community fundraising
• how Future City builds engineering thinking plus public speaking and leadership
• what students say years later about the impact of early STEM programs
• why AI is a tool that still requires math fundamentals and verification
• how we support educators directly with teacher and professor awards
• how match partners and community giving fuel the work
Kansasengineer.org is the place to go
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Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_01Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN. Welcome back to the GMCF Community Hour on News Radio KMAN. Tom Roberts is, you know, he's kind of a local icon, local legend. He's been involved with K-State and an engineering program and just all around good guy. Loves to get involved in a lot of things, along with that partner you have and your wife, Karen. You seem to have your thumbs in a lot of things. Welcome to the show, sir. Thank you, David.
SPEAKER_00It's an honor to have you here. Well, it's an honor to be here. Always we've known each other for a long time. It's good to be part of it.
SPEAKER_01I figured we probably met in the early 90s when I came back here to radio.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus, Jr. You've told me about a lot of things that you get involved in. It's just like, you know, you're always you seem like you always get it excited about different projects. You know, like I I know we've talked about robotics and different things, you know, that uh you've had uh kids and students and such up at K-State that uh are involved in and just uh fun times.
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus Well, and it's been a partnership with Karen, too, because as a teacher, she worked with students and then ended up sending them to the university. So it's been a lot of fun over the years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You you make a pretty good tag team, you know.
SPEAKER_00We do. We do.
What The Engineers Foundation Does
SPEAKER_01Today we're gonna talk about the Engineers Foundation of Kansas. What's that all about?
SPEAKER_00The Engineers Foundation of Kansas is the 501c3 part of our professional engineering society. We've had a broad influence over things. For example, years ago we helped set up the University Engineering Initiative Act, which is directly affecting uh Wichita State, KU, and K State in terms of money that they get every year for for educating students, helping faculty, putting in new facilities. But we've also been working a lot with STEM programs and and other ways to to influence the pipeline, if you will, for kids coming into the program.
SPEAKER_01You know, you've you've been doing this type of work long before the phrase STEM became something that uh we've all come to embrace and appreciate. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00I started doing this work while I was working with a little company in Kansas City called Black and Beach back in the 1970s. Oh my gosh, yeah. Really?
SPEAKER_01I did not know that.
SPEAKER_00When did you come to K-State? Came in 1993. Don Rathbone invited me to come be a part of the program.
SPEAKER_01Boy. He did a lot of good things up there, didn't he? He did a lot of good things up there. Let me have a name on a building somewhere. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00Something like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh goodness. Well, to have him bring you in, that says probably quite a bit. That that had to be just a huge moment of pride for you. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00I was very honored, very honored. Thought I might be here five years or so and leave when he retired, and the rest is history. We're still here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Awesome.
Statewide STEM Grants For Schools
SPEAKER_01Well, uh the STEM partnership, and and and give us a little bit of the foundation of that and how that's uh been built up in the schools in in the state.
SPEAKER_00Well, the foundation knows that we have to keep working with STEM. Of course, there's a lot of different organizations that work STEM science, technology, engineering, and math. But what EFK is doing is we're not just here in Manhattan. We're based out of Manhattan with the GMCF, but we're working statewide to put together programs, support programs that are existing, and help them be successful. We recently got a grant from the NCWS, the Licensure Test folks. And we've so far helped uh 12 schools and nine different school districts across the state. We've got a couple more districts to go and we'll complete that grant, and then we're working on others.
SPEAKER_01You get quite a few kids involved in this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, quite a few. Each of the teachers bought either Lego Mindstorm kits or math counts uh uh memberships. Uh we estimate that there'll be several hundred students that are affected by this in just the
Hands On Kits That Spark STEM
SPEAKER_00next couple of years.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Ross Powell You know, you mentioned Lego, and I uh have a future son-in-law who's big into doing the Legos, and we were talking about some of that stuff last night. And the impact that some of these toys, these kits that you and I grew up with, erector sets, erector set, absolutely. Tinker toys. Yep. I you could probably put Lincoln logs in that, and then and then Legos just kind of like blew up and became something totally uh different.
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus Well, some of them are more structured in terms of how to put them together. Uh Lincoln logs were specific, uh, but erector sets you could get really creative. I don't know how you did with yours, but I built all kinds of I built a catapult. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Built catapults, Ferris wheels, all kinds of things. Yeah. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but but these help set the foundation for the interest for what we now call STEM in a lot of things. But you know, there's also you know, you talk about the technology in computers. You know, you were doing this type of work, you know, we were playing with these things long before anybody had a VIC-20 or a Commodore or an Apple or whatever the case may be. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that's what the robotics programs are doing now, teaching students the logic of programming and alike as well as the mechanics of how you put things together. There's planning, there's design. All of these programs require teamwork. So we're really teaching students how to be effective in using new technologies as
Robotics Teams And Getting To Nationals
SPEAKER_00they come along.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell You know, we talk about um robotics, and there's an organization here locally, Little uh the MHS Little Apple Cyborgs robotics team. And you and I have talked about this and and how much fun this is to just go see and you got youngsters that are building things and they get out there and they actually have battles.
SPEAKER_00David, it's amazing that Manhattan and the high school has supported a robotics team. Most of these teams are in bigger cities in the Kansas City area, St. Louis, something like that. The interesting part of the story is we helped a physics teacher at the high school, Amy. We recognized her for her excellence in teaching. She took that money, put it back into the team along with a lot of hard work and partnerships. Those team went to Houston the last two years as a national competition. They won the regional or participated in the regional and placed very well. Went on to the national competition, and EFK helped raise money to send them to the national competition. We served as the 501c3 funnel so the parents could donate money, and then we've turned around and given that money to help send the students to the to the camp.
SPEAKER_01That's gotta be just fun to be able to say that you can do that.
Future City And MathCounts Programs
SPEAKER_00Well, another area we've worked with is the future city competition. They compete. The students design a future city using software, they plan, they build a model of it, they come to a central region. The last couple of years that competition's been in Topeka. The kids put together uh not only the models, but have to present. So here are eighth graders standing up in front of four or five hundred people giving a an oral presentation from scratch, being judged by professionals from across the state. Uh the kids uh we we're fine helping financially support that. The Future City program is part of our GMCF partnership. And uh it's just wonderful to watch these kids grow and perform.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're developing leadership too. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00Very much leadership, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no kidding. This is um um uh I I don't do math. I don't math. I'm not a mather. I I hate mathing. I'm good at picking up words.
SPEAKER_00I my guess is you do I'm looking at all these computers here in the studio and the like. You do more than you know, but anyway, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01But uh geometry and algebra and all those other, you know, big letters, big syllable words are just, you know, yeah, yeah. I I dabble with some stuff, but but you have a an effort called math counts. Aaron Ross Powell Correct, correct.
SPEAKER_00In this case, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are learning to do math well. It's like a spelling bee contest, only it has to do with math. Uh we've helped support the director of the state director who lives in Celina. Uh Don and Lynn Rathbone set up a foundation fund for Linda Rathbone several years ago. Uh the income off of that, those monies help send kids to the national competition. Manhattan has been fortunate the last two years to have two of the four students go on to the national competition down in Orlando, Florida. Really? So a lot of our money stays here, but we're helping kids across the state. This year, Topeka and Overland Park students were also part of that uh winning team that went on to the national competition. Uh it's time trials, it's math, some of it's paperwork, some of it is oral communication, but the kids practice and learn and do math, and of course it takes a teacher to help uh uh facilitate that, organize them, keep them motivated and the like. It's it's a lot of fun, and the parents do a great job of supporting
Long Term Impact On Students
SPEAKER_00them.
SPEAKER_01What do you hear from kids once they get through let's just say high school and then college, who have been through some of these programs that uh that that your foundation is supporting? What kind of feedback do you get in the uh you know, pertaining to the impact that their time there has made on them?
SPEAKER_00David, we just had our state conference here last week at the Hilton Garden Inn. I had some of my former students that participated clear back when they were in elementary school, middle school. Uh they cite that as one of the reasons why they're engaged. What's fun is that their kids now are coming along. Same thing. Their kids are excited about it. They want to get up in the morning and go go have fun doing that. They still play baseball and do the sports, but they like to use their minds. And it's just it's just really rewarding to see how these kids can grow and the parents uh supporting them.
SPEAKER_01You've been a part of education for a long time. So is so is your wife, Karen. Yep. And there are so many transitions that we've all seen in the world of education in some 50 years and in in your respective careers. And you think about how STEM has become popular in a lot of respects.
AI Changes Tools Not Fundamentals
SPEAKER_01What do you foresee in the coming years for STEM education?
SPEAKER_00Well, Dave, again, we had this conference, we brought in uh the Dean of Engineering, interim dean Brad Kramer, and others who talked about the future. AI as having a major impact on what people are doing and thinking about and seeing. But the bottom line is you have to know and understand math. You have to know and understand physics, chemistry, and some of the other sciences. Well, physics is another f world that it's uh and you can't you can't let a machine do all that work for you. Now the machine may help you learn it, and that's what faculty at the university as well as in our K-12 system are fit trying to figure out. They're gonna w work with it, but kids are still gonna have to be able to do the work and understand it. I think things like uh problem solving, critical thinking, I'll call it strategic learning, those are still all part of the engineering program and what what's gonna be required regardless of the tools that we have to be able to do to do the work.
SPEAKER_01How has AI artificial intelligence come into play in the world of STEM and some of the things that you are doing with your Engineers Foundation at Kansas?
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus, Jr. In some respects, it's turning its things on its head. On the other hand, depending on the software and some of the programs, AI doesn't give you all the facts. In fact, it makes up things. So you still have to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01It's really kind to you, too. It's very kind of a good idea. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Very supportive. Trevor Burrus, Jr. But you still have to be able to look at it and say, is this the right answer? But that isn't any different than we went to calculators from a slide rule years ago. People have to understand what a decimal point is and what it I mean, I know people in their careers that missed a decimal point and it cost the firm a lot of money because they missed a decimal point. Things haven't changed in that respect.
SPEAKER_01I see AI as a tool for me to think through things more.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Ross Powell I agree. If it's done properly. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01If it's done properly. And everybody that is utilizing AI for one reason or another. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Exactly. You know, we I use it for for ideas, suggestions, and stuff, but but I'm the it it it it's just a tool where I can apply some of what my interests are, and I get instant feedback to help me think about something else.
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus Well, and it can also help you do routine tasks and mundane things and do it. You still have to check the work and some of those kinds of things. So it can speed up how we do things. It can open up doors for analysis that we wouldn't normally have, but uh it's still going to retire require the human mind to figure it out and make sure it makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus What kind of response are you getting from the kids about AI and the work that they're doing? I think that depends on the school district and the parents and some of that. Trevor Burrus, Jr. I would think that it probably fuels their interests more. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00It can, yes, it can. I think there are some places, though, that are a little afraid of it. So they're not as moving along. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01And I think that we all look at AI from what we're utilizing it for. And you know, you think about all the different things that, you know, technology brings, that's different than doing a book report. Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Or looking at something political or something that's analytical in a lot of different respects.
SPEAKER_00Dave, I think the key is what the teachers do and learn, and that's why we're supporting them with programs. Just this last week we gave out $1,000 each to three K-12 teachers and one university professor. And that's another part of what our Engineers Foundation of Kansas is doing is supporting educators so they can go do their job better.
Funding The Work And Golf Tournament
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01How do you make this money to uh where does this money come from?
SPEAKER_00Well, we're certainly appreciative of our Grow Green Match Day sponsors through the Community Foundation. Uh we've got a uh Giving Tuesday coming up in December, and we're also doing a golf tournament coming up in the Golf Tournament.
SPEAKER_01You have Vern's attention.
SPEAKER_00We have Vern's attention. Vern has come and played. He's talked to our members before, and we really appreciate that. We know he likes to be out on the course.
SPEAKER_01I've heard that.
SPEAKER_00But he also does a nice job of working with our members to talk about our message and what we're doing. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01And as much fun as Vernon and I have together. Fun, you know. Um He has never asked me to play golf with him.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell Well, would you like to play?
SPEAKER_01No, I really well not with him, but I I haven't played in years. Um but anyway, so you have a golf tournament coming up. You said September.
SPEAKER_00September the twenty-third. Be here in Manhattan. People will come in from all across the state. It's not limited to engineers. It's limited to others that are ready to go. Go to can uh the registration will open up here in the first part of July. Kansasengineer.org is the place to go.
SPEAKER_01Well that was easy. Man. I've I I've I've you know we've run out of questions here. Do we have anything else to talk about? You I mean, you always have things to share.
SPEAKER_00Well, the m I think David, I want to say thanks to Carl and Mary Ice. We with the with the match day, we find our own matching funds. Carl and Mary Ice were part of our match partners this year and last year, and we really appreciate their partnership and we think we're being good stewards of their of their faith in us. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Haven't they been great community stewards?
SPEAKER_00Wonderful community stewards. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wonderful, wonderful. A lot of respects. Yes. You know, you know you you just you know, you're starting to see their not their names just on on buildings and such, but their contributions to a number of organizations. No, that's right.
SPEAKER_00And and I don't think it's all about their name. I think they sincerely want to and like supporting groups, and we really appreciate their support. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and I've seen them active in a lot of things that don't involve contributions. Absolutely. It's great to have them in Manhattan. Well, this is fun. KansasEngineer.org.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_01The name of the organization, Engineers Foundation golf tournament is September 23. Correct. Where's that at?
SPEAKER_00It's going to actually it's going to be here in Manhattan at Stag Hill. We're changing it. We used to be at Cobra Hills. We're going to go to Stag Hill this year.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus, Jr. This has been fun, Tom. Thank you, David. Thanks for sharing the stories. Yeah. Yeah. We always enjoy our visits, but this time we get a little a little uh real practicum here going. It's always fun working with you, Dave. Absolutely. Appreciate the friendship. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: He's Tom Roberts. I'm Dave Lewis. I'll be back with Jayna in just a little bit. We're going to talk about some things that are happening within the community in the next few weeks, and then also give you a preview of next week's show. This is the GMCF Community Gar. We do this every Monday morning at nine. And by the way, we do save these so that these uh conversations are available as podcasts on our podcast format. Uh remember Philanthropy Today, wherever you get your podcast. That way, you, Tom, you can share the podcast with all your minions. Plan on it. We're planning on. We'll be back in just a little bit here on K Man.