MassRobotics kicked off sessions for the 5th year in Boston and the 2nd year of the expansion in Lowell in January 2025.   The program was developed to encourage and empower diverse high school girls to pursue a career in robotics and promote diversity in the robotics workforce.  

This Jumpstart program has many components including a technical curriculum for building skills in design, simulation, and coding, physical hands-on fabrication and electronics, professional development, mentors, and a paid internship in the robotics and technology field.

It is the blend of all the components that makes it impactful and game-changing for the students who go through the program.  While the MassRobotics team orchestrates and provides some of the curriculum, a large portion is developed by and taught by volunteers from industry. The weekly Saturday sessions also include a lunch time fireside chat between a woman in industry or academia and a Jumpstart Fellow in the program hosting the Q&A.

In the first session the Fellows learned about the power of connections and networking.

Kristen Bates, an HR expert, provided a session on LinkedIn and tips for using it successfully to network, job search, and outreach.  Students set up their profiles and will continue to update and add mentors throughout the program, building their networks.

Our mentor session in Lowell was with Dr.  Holly Yanco, Distinguished University Professor , Chair of the Computer Science Department and NERVE Center Director, where the Lowell cohort holds their weekly sessions.  Holly offered insights into her career choices and shared advice with those interested in pursuing an academic career.  (Photo of Holly & with student with fire in the background)

The Boston cohort mentor was Nettrice Gaskins, a digital artist and academic who connects algorithms in computation, specifically using generative art.  

Lightspeed Manufacturing engineers and assembles custom Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) and works with companies to prototype, manufacture, and repair equipment, including everything from robotics and drones to medical equipment and IoT.  Thanks to the entire Lightspeed team for hosting our Jumpstart Fellows.  Rich has been a supporter from Day 1, personally teaches the soldering curriculum to the Jumpstart cohorts, and donates equipment to our STEM Lab.  This is the 5th year Rich has hosted our Boston cohort, and each year has been an incredible experience for the Fellows.  

The Lowell Cohort spent one of their sessions fabricating silicon fingers and attaching them to motors to build grippers.  UMass Lowell staff has developed and taught this curriculum annually to the Jumpstart Fellows and it has been part of the Jumpstart Program since Cohort 1.

The Lowell Cohort also visited MassRobotics for training in the Machine Shop, had an introduction to power tools with the opportunity for some hands-on learning.  They also learned how to use the laser cutter and fabricated their nametags. 

We then kicked off the CAD portion of the curriculum, which includes a number of sessions learning to design in SolidWorks.  This gives the Felows a solid foundation for prototyping and building, which they will use in their final design projects.  These design sessions were developed by Rachael Naoum, from SolidWorks.  Rachael has been a volunteer and supporter of the Jumpstart Program for 5 years and teaches these sessions annually.

Thank you to SO MANY supporters of the Jumpstart Fellowship Program who make it possible for us to bring this type of impact to future leaders in tech:

  • La Fondation Dassault Systèmes for supporting our program annually (5 cohorts!)
  • Mass Technology Collaborative for funding the Lowell expansion for a 2nd year!  
  • UMass Lowell and the NERVE Center for providing a terrific space to host our sessions in Lowell
  • Beacon Technologies for the purchase of new laptops for the Lowell cohort
  • SolidWorks for the student licenses for 30 students

AND OF COURSE to the MANY volunteers and mentors to date:

Rachael Naoum, Betsy Jaspers, Holly Yanco, Maru Cabrera, Nattrice Gaskins, Natalie Brown, Emma Garvey, Sridevi Varna, Kristen Bates

Our program continues to seek internship opportunities for our Jumpstart Fellows – to provide meaningful work where they can use the skills they’ve learned in the program including SolidWorks, Python, soldering, digital fabrication, 3D printing, and hand tools.  If you are interested in participating as an employer please fill out this form.