Hey there! His name was Tizer — and he nearly destroyed our marriage. Not literally. But in 1987, when Stephen and I brought home our first golden retriever, we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. We tried confining him to the downstairs family room with a baby gate. He jumped it and chewed the vertical blinds. Every day we tried to move things out of his way. Every day he found something new. Then one day I came home to find my tube watercolors chewed up, paint smeared all over a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Here's the thing — kids don't resist science. They resist boring science. That's exactly why I wrote the companion guide to The Secret of the Magic eyePadthe way I did. Every experiment connects to a moment in the story, a character choice, a problem worth solving. When kids care about what happens next, they want to ask questions, make predictions, and yes — even redo the experiment when their first try doesn't work out. Here's a peek at what makes this guide tick: Curiosity as a habit —...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Ethical Use of AI "I apologize for the length of this letter. If I had had more time, it would have been shorter."— Mark Twain (Note to self: AI could have shortened this. But would it have gotten the gist right?) It's remarkable how far AI has come in just a few years. It's touching every aspect of our lives—often in ways we don't even see. But here's the question I keep coming back to: Is it doing the right work? The Cheating Problem A friend of mine—a fellow engineer who now teaches at a...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Exciting news! My first audiobook, The Secret of the Magic eyePad: Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures–Book 1, was just announced as a Wishing Shelf Book Awards FINALIST in the Children / YA Audiobook Category. Winners will be announced next month. This is a perfect way to celebrate Engineers Week! Just announced! Wishing Shelf Book Awards FINALIST in the Children / YA Audiobook category! Check out my audiobook here! Check out the other Wishing Shelf Book Awards FINALISTS here! And while we're...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Have you ever made something but forgot a key ingredient? I think we've all had that moment when we tried really hard to make something special... and in the bustle of putting it together, forgot the one thing that makes it work. One memorable occasion for me was making a coffee cake for a special celebration in 9th grade. My grandmother was living with us at the time, and well... too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? I forgot the baking powder. It still tasted fine. It was just...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, What my dog taught me about raising problem-solvers: Choice is the center of building problem-solving skills. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: We say we want kids who can think for themselves and handle hard things—but most of us aren’t willing to let them fail. And without real failure in low-stakes situations, our kids enter adulthood unprepared for the choices that matter most. I learned this from my dog. No, seriously. One of my biggest teaching breakthroughs came from training...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, The Buoyancy Project Audiobook just went live yesterday! If you like audiobooks, the audiobook for the second book in the Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures Series just got approved through ACX! Check it out at the link below! The Buoyancy Project Audiobook! The flowable ePub for first book in the Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures Series is now live! Check it out here. On the STEM front... we had a blast with catapult cornhole, coke and mentos, monster toothpaste (way too much food...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, I have always loved butterflies... My third grade teacher introduced my family to butterflies (she was also my sister's third grade teacher, and my sister is 6 years older than me, which means I had an even earlier start!) If you've ready any of my Putney Hicks Inventor Adventures books (okay, except for the prequel, which is Sam's story), butterflies play a central role, peaking in book 3, Project First Flight. I've always felt the magic in nature through butterflies. Then I had...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, What do summer and books have in common? They provide inspiration and relaxation Nature contains many hidden innovations. Summer's always been a time for me to get out in nature and connect with it, whether it's watching an anhinga dive beneath the water to catch fish (it's an amazing bird that just juts its head up every once in a while to swallow what it's caught), or a butterfly hopping from flower to flower. Nature inspires me, and renews me. So do books. For me, there's...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read