ENGINEER EDUCATOR ENTREPRENEUR

Lavanya Jawaharlal is the President and Co-Founder of STEM Center USA. She is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University pursuing her PhD in Education with a concentration in K12 equity and policy. Lavanya received her Bachelor’s Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of California – Berkeley, where she also served as the Executive Vice President of the student body. She also holds a Master’s in Education with a concentration in Educational Evaluation & Data Analysis from CGU. Lavanya sits on the National Advisory Board of ACE NextGen – a millennial Asian entrepreneurship organization operating in Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and Boston.

Lavanya, and her sister Melissa, founded STEM Center USA with a mission to share their love for tinkering and creating for students in K-12. Their goal was to create a comfortable, safe space for students to learn about technology, robotics, and coding. In addition, they wanted to create meaningful relationships between students and instructors to serve as STEM role models. Along the way, Lavanya and Melissa co-authored “The Technical Alphabet” – an ABC book that introduces early learners to basic technology terms. They also created the Pi-Bot Robotics Kit which they launched on Kickstarter and crowdfunded $113K. STEM Center USA, and its founding sisters, were recognized for their work in STEM education by, at the time in 2015, Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. They were also featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and received offers from Lori Greiner and Chris Sacca.

Lavanya is passionate about providing learning opportunities for young girls and children of color. She advocates for interactive teaching techniques that engage students at a deeper level. She and her sister work together to develop unique curriculum that includes scaffolding of activities, physical materials for students to experiment with, and an entire box of tech items to ensure every student has access to online learning fundamentals.