Assembly at Monterey Hills Elementary School

I love to inspire learners of all ages about the creative opportunities in engineering. Since my field is robotics, I am committed to making it accessible to everyone, and sharing ways in which robots can be used to improve human quality of life, especially for users with special needs. In outreach, my emphasis is on PK-12 students, in particular groups that are typically underrepresented in computing and engineering. I believe that the hands-on, experiential learning provided by robotics is a great way to increase students' interest and knowledge in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), especially computational thinking. I enjoy presenting to various stakeholder audiences, including PK-12 students and teachers, as well as members of the media and the entertainment industry.

I welcome helpful suggestions and new impactful outreach opportunities.


Recent and Ongoing Outreach Activities

Publications on Robotics for K-12 STEM Education
  • Maja J. Matarić, Juan Fasola, and David J. Feil-Seifer, "Robotics as a tool for immersive, hands-on freshmen engineering instruction", Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition Pittsburgh, PA, Jul 2008. [PDF]
  • Maja J Matarić, Nathan Koenig, and David Feil-Seifer, "Materials for Enabling Hands-On Robotics and STEM Education", AAAI Spring Symposium on Robots and Robot Venues: Resources for AI Education, Palo Alto, CA, Mar 2007. [PDF]
  • Maja J Matarić, "Robotics Education for All Ages", Proceedings, AAAI Spring Symposium on Accessible, Hands-on AI and Robotics Education, Palo Alto, CA, Mar 22-24, 2004. [PDF]