Home > Faculty & Staff > Silvia Liddicoat

Bio

Silvia is adjunct faculty in the Electrical Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and has taught part-time in the EE department since 2003. Prior to joining Cal Poly, she worked as an engineer at National Semiconductor Corporation for almost ten years. Silvia held various engineering positions in Research and Development, Manufacturing, Marketing and Project Management while working at National Semiconductor. She currently serves as Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) liaison between Cal Poly President Baker's office and the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI). In 2007, she served on the Access to Excellence committee for the new California State University strategic plan. She is currently working on a STEM Collaborative Action Plan through a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Grant sponsored by the California Space Authority (CSA)

(http://www.innovatecalifornia.net/success/search/details/participant/11) and CSEWI, with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor.

She has recently written a paper supported by the WIRED Grant on: "NASA Enriched Collaborative STEM Teacher Professional Development Institutes within the California State University System, December 2007." During 2007, Silvia worked in the Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) and the Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) center as an advisor to pre-college MESA and current MEP students. She also led K-16 outreach activities both on and off Cal Poly's campus in the Central Coast area spanning from Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Many of the outreach activites included parents as well.

Silvia previously worked with Dr. Bob Cichowski, former CESaME Director, in the Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESaME) from 2004-2006. Silvia's work in CESaME included K-16 STEM education projects where she served as Co-Project Investigator for the Boeing-sponsored Girls Engineering in Middle School (GEMS); Bechtel Foundation-sponsored Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Literacy In The Elementary School (STEMLITES) and also led K-16 outreach activities for students in the Central Coast region. Silvia was instrumental in securing funding from the Bechtel Foundation for the STEMLITES project.

Education

B.S. Electrical Engineering: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and Masters in Business Administration (MBA): Santa Clara University

Teaching and Research Interests

Digital Design; K-16 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education; K-16 STEM educational outreach; Member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); Member of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA); Member of the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

Resources

• File: Teacher Professional Development Institutes within the CSU
  This paper presents and analyzes three CSU-NASA/JPL Collaborative Teacher Professional Development Institutes located at: California Polytechnic State University,San Luis Obispo; CSU Fresno and CSU Bakersfield. This paper highlights the critical elements, extracts the best practices from the three K-12 institutes and proposes an implementation model as a framework for other campuses and institutes.
• Website: The Innovate California Network
  The "California Innovation Corridor" (The Corridor) network is an online, collaborative zone initiated by a $15M/3-Year Department of Labor grant to the State of California and the California Space Authority titled, "Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development" (WIRED). The Corridor includes over 60 industry, academic, workforce, and economic development participants extending across 13 counties. It is a collaborative effort to drive entrepreneurship, global manufacturing competitiveness, and 21st century workforce development.