This week on Episode 33 of STEAM Powered, we speak with Pia Andrews, serial public sector transformer.

Pia Andrews is an open government and data ninja [1] who has been working in making the world a better place for 20 years. She currently works within the (public sector) machine to transform public services through greater transparency, democratic engagement, citizen-centric design, open data, emerging technologies and real, pragmatic actual innovation in the public sector and beyond. She believes that tech culture has a huge role to play in achieving better policy planning, outcomes, public engagement and a better public service all round. She is also trying to do her part in establishing greater public benefit from publicly funded data, software and research. Pia was recognised in 2018 and 2019 as one of the global top 20 most Influential in Digital Government and was awarded as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Australia for 2014.

Pia is currently the Digital Lead and Special Advisor for the Benefits Delivery Modernization program at Service Canada (ESDC) in Ottawa, Canada. There she is helping design and deliver a holistic and modern digital channel for the Canadian Government to deliver a delightful, dignified, user-centric, responsive and integrated digital journey that motivates and empowers people to help themselves.
In our conversation, we talk about digital commons, public policy, and Pia's dream of an optimistic future.

Watch this episode on YouTube. Listen to it on Vurbl, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Castbox, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, or RSS.

Very excited to be Vurbl's ambassador for science!

Browse some very cool science related podcast and other audio content on Vurbl here. 

I'll be curating playlists and thought-leaders on the platform, so if anyone has any brilliant science, STEM, STEMM, STEAM, or women in STEM related podcasts you think need a signal boost, let me know!

Got a bit nerdy (and nostalgic) about classical music in cartoons like Bluey, Sarah and Duck, Disney, and Looney Tunes.
https://micheleong.substack.com/p/musings-3-cartoons-and-classical

This week on Episode 32 of STEAM Powered, we speak with Jesslyn Tannady, developer advocate at Facebook.

Jesslyn Tannady creates educational content about Facebook's technologies so that anyone outside of Facebook can use them. In a past life, she worked on video games and augmented reality navigation tools for astronauts for NASA. When she's not thinking about virtual reality technology, she's probably illustrating or voice acting. You can find her on Twitter at @jtannady.

Watch this episode on YouTube. Listen to it on Vurbl, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Castbox, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, or RSS.

I wrote about some of my favourite examples of cross-disciplinary collaboration and interdisciplinary work throughout history.

https://micheleong.substack.com/p/musings-2-collaboration

This week on Episode 31 of STEAM Powered, we speak with Dr. Marsha Tufft, engineer, author, speaker, and problem-solver.

Dr. Marsha Tufft is an engineer, author, speaker, and problem-solver. Her passion is helping kids succeed in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering, math. She brings 35 years engineering experience at GE Aviation and degrees in mechanical, aerospace, and materials engineering to the creation of STEM experiments and projects that can be done at home because there’s nothing like learning by doing. She writes middle-grade fiction books with a STEAM (=STEM+art) theme because stories change attitudes. Visit her website, www.putneydesigns.com, for STEM experiments, videos, and information about her books.

Watch this episode on YouTube. Listen to it on Vurbl, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Castbox, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, or RSS.