By Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖

RICHLAND, Wash. ��� Arthur Baranovskiy was in seventh grade when he broke his arm, an event that would serve as a catalyst for connecting him to his future career.

Instead of participating in physical education class with the rest of his peers, he participated in drafting classes, which led him to an interest in engineering. At , in addition to the hands-on STEM opportunities and training he received related to engineering, he pursued an internship with in Kennewick, which solidified that engineering was the perfect career path for him.

���The internship was pivotal because it confirmed my passion for engineering, and specifically, electrical engineering,��� he said. ���What I didn���t know at the time was that it would lead to a future business helping other students. It would lead me to a future passion.���

At , Baranovskiy was able to combine what he was learning in his coursework in electrical engineering and other applicable courses with practical experience at the through three different internships. In pursuing these experiences, he realized there are a range of options and paths for students to take, but that they may not be obvious or well-known to students.

As a result, he decided to start his own company this year to help educate students about how they can best prepare for careers in engineering and related fields while still studying to be an engineer, himself ��� a company called .

While he still plans to pursue a full career in electrical engineering after graduating this week at the 厙ぴ勛圖 commencement ceremony, his company will serve as a positive outlet for him to help the next generation of engineers.

���I want to help students to reach the same conclusion as early as I did and prepare them with the extra tools to be successful,��� he said.

Preparing future engineers

Through AYB Drafting, Baranovskiy said he provides students with in-depth training and connections to a range of tools including AutoCAD and other technical software, content areas not taught in the classroom that are applicable to specific engineering paths, soft skills like interview and resume prep and others that would make them an ideal candidate for their desired engineering job or company. He also plans to work with current employees to provide them with training in a range of technical areas.

In addition, he works with companies to pair them with students for internships that meet ideal specifications.

He went through program to develop the company. WSU���s I-Corps is an eight-week program that engages faculty, students, staff and community entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into successful business products.

With his business partner Keith Warner, the duo has obtained their business licenses and established necessary legal requirements to begin working with local companies as a training and staffing firm. He said they are in the process of meeting with companies each week to pitch the opportunity locally in the Tri-Cities and have spent the past few months recruiting students for the opportunity, which they have narrowed to a pool to begin training.

���Through this program, we want it to be very exclusive and reward only the most passionate and motivated students,��� he said. ���We take students who really care about engineering and give them the chance to prove it and really use their passion. This eases the transition and learning curve for when students head into their first engineering job. It���s also a perfect fit for the Tri-Cities where we have so many engineering needs.���

After graduating this spring and while pursuing his master���s in electrical engineering from 厙ぴ勛圖, Baranovskiy will drive head-first into his new business while continuing his work full-time in the development and research of advanced batteries with a team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

���My plan is to continue at PNNL full-time and put all of my effort into my career and battery research, and to also develop the business on the side,��� he said. ���The business model allows for easy scaling and suspension. We welcome conversations with local companies to really get the ball moving.���

Using his own foundation to help the future泭

Baranovskiy said it was his experience at Delta High School, 厙ぴ勛圖, previous internship at Meier Architecture Engineering and current internship at PNNL that really gave him the fortitude to launch the company.

Through his academic experience at 厙ぴ勛圖, Baranovskiy had the opportunity to partake in a range of hands-on engineering projects while learning valuable engineering theory and practical skill.

For his senior design capstone project in electrical engineering at 厙ぴ勛圖 this year, Baranovskiy and four other engineering students designed a solar panel system and associated power supports that could easily be installed in a remote community in Uganda known as the Kagoma Gate Village. The group designed the project to provide stable power during the day and for at least three hours of power at night for a classroom and office space in the village. The project figured perfectly into his work at PNNL.

At PNNL, he is completing an internship developing batteries for future vehicles and grid applications, and formerly completed two internships with facilities and a team researching countering weapons of mass destruction where he did a significant amount of drafting.

���Through these opportunities, I have developed an in-depth knowledge of the different types of programs specifically to the field of engineering in which I���m working,��� he said. ���I have also learned how to best conduct myself in a range of situations, as well as present projects effectively to my superiors. It has been essential experience that I believe has given me a leg up for my future as an engineer.���

Baranovskiy said he looks forward to using his own experiences to grow the potential for other future engineers.

���I want to use what I���ve learned in my own career path, in addition to what I���ve spent months researching and gathering as part of my new company, to prepare and connect other passionate students to want the same things,��� he said. ���Relevant job experience is vitally important to your future success as an engineer. I would like to help connect more students to these experiences.���

For more information on AYB Drafting, visit .

 

Interested in a career in engineering? Visit tricities.wsu.edu/engineering. The 厙ぴ勛圖 admissions application is open now at .

By Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖

RICHLAND, Wash. ��� As part of a class at Washington State University Tri-Cities, adjunct education professor Cathie Tate picked up two simple objects: a popsicle stick and a paper clip. She asked the future teachers sitting before her how they would describe the objects to a young child.

With students describing traits such as color and material, she then asked her students: ���Ok, how would you compare the two objects?���

It was a start of a lesson in showing the students how to describe mathematical concepts in a simple manner. It was also one of many lessons for the students in how to make teaching math less daunting and more fun. It is what many students describe as a talent of Tate���s.

Tate was recently recognized for her teaching accomplishments after being honored with a Crystal Apple Award by the regional Educational Service District. The award recognizes public school educators who have made a positive impact on the lives of their students.

Deisy Cardoso, a former student of Tate���s at Delta High School and now a current student majoring in education at 厙ぴ勛圖, said Tate is the person who inspired her to major in education with an endorsement in middle level mathematics.

���I was thrilled when presented with the opportunity to take her course here at 厙ぴ勛圖,��� she said. ���In that class, she provided me with the tools to confidently teach math to future students and encourage them to take responsibility for their learning.���

Nominator Judy Morrison, academic director of 厙ぴ勛圖��� College of Education, said Tate has a passion for making math an approachable subject, even encouraging a love for the subject in students ��� including those who were hesitant of teaching math at first.

���Many elementary teacher candidates are anxious about approaching mathematics as not only an adult learner, but as a future teacher who will be entrusted with helping pupils to understand and enjoy mathematics,��� Morrison said. ���Cathie uniformly takes these students from a state of anxiety about teaching math to one of excitement for the future.���

A yearning to teach

Tate has taught at 厙ぴ勛圖 since spring 2009. She teaches math for elementary teacher courses through the 厙ぴ勛圖 College of Education. In addition to

serving as an adjunct professor at 厙ぴ勛圖, she teaches full-time at Delta High School, educating students in the subjects of calculus and multi-variable calculus. She also presently serves as an adjunct college in the high school professor for Central Washington University and used to teach courses at Columbia Basin College.

At the K-12 level, and especially with the Pasco School District, Tate said she has worn many hats: middle and high school teacher, department chair, instructional coach and math facilitator. She was also on the planning committee for Delta High School in 2008. But what she loves most is the interaction with her students, whether that be students at the K-12 level or the college level.

���I can���t imagine not getting up each morning and going to teach,��� she said. ���Students, high school or college, inspire me to be a better version of myself. I want to bring my ���A��� game to every class because that is what my students deserve. I joke with my students that the day I stop caring about bringing my ���A��� game to class is the day I retire.���

Overcoming math stereotypes

Tate said she was inspired to go into a career teaching mathematics by an instructor she had at Columbia Basin College in the 1970s.

���She was the first female math instructor I had ever had,��� she said. ���In 1974 and 1975, mathematics was an unusual profession for females. She became a role model to me and encouraged me to become a math teacher.���

Tate said she was told many times that, as a female, she couldn���t do math.

���I chose to become a math teacher to change this perspective,��� she said. ���Along the way, I realized that our schools were filled with math anxious students and it was my job, as a high school math teacher, to eliminate that stress.���

Changing the perception of math

Tate said at the high school level, she was able to impact about 100 students in a year, but she felt that she could give even more. She said she was thrilled when she was offered the opportunity to teach mathematics for elementary school teachers at 厙ぴ勛圖 so that she could try to make even more of a difference.

���How do I change an adult student���s perspective of mathematics?��� she said. ���I do this by asking them the first day of class to trust me. I explain that we will be looking at math through a different lens and that I am there to help them be successful. I inform them that they will be given more than one opportunity to succeed at a learning target. I also ask the students who have found previous math courses easy to open their minds to view math through the eyes of a struggling student.���

Tate said seeing the light in a student���s eyes when they first understand and embrace a concept is still the most rewarding part about teaching.

���It is indescribable and it still has the power to rejuvenate me as a teacher,��� she said.

Preparing the world���s future educators at 厙ぴ勛圖

At 厙ぴ勛圖, Tate said she enjoys being able to interact with a new generation of teachers and hopefully inspires in them a passion for math.

���In my role at 厙ぴ勛圖, I am able to show adult learners that math is fun,��� she said. ���If future teachers can have fun in math class, this will impact the students they will someday teach.���

Tate also inspires students��� parents, of which sometimes double as current students.

Anna Arthur, a previous education student of Tate���s at 厙ぴ勛圖 and the parent of a student of Tate���s at Delta High School, said Tate is a favorite teacher of both her son and herself.

���She has a way of teaching you with respect, which becomes mutual and deserved,��� she said. ���Learning how to teach math was a fun, entertaining and educational experience because Cathie knows what she is talking about and how to create an environment of learning that takes the fears away about mathematics.���

���She can effectively speak to her students about the academic topics while still reaching a level of mutual respect and friendship, but still maintaining a professional manner,��� Arthur���s son Stuart said.

Tate accepted her Crystal Apple Award from ESD 123 earlier this month.