Fredi Lajvardi, the inspiration for the major motion picture “Spare Parts” starring George Lopez, will speak tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountains-Piedmont Ballroom in Talley Student Union.
The Goodnight Scholars Program is hosting the event and is excited for him to speak because of his science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) credentials and inspiring story, according to Allison Medlin, director of the Goodnight Scholars Program.
Lajvardi will present “Improbable to Unstoppable,” a first-hand account of Lajvardi and his students’ journey that brought national attention to STEM education. He was a high school teacher in Phoenix, Arizona and mentored a group of disadvantaged Hispanic teenagers in a robotics team that eventually beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) team.
Many national news organizations picked up on their story, and it was eventually documented into the book “Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream.”
Lajvardi has received numerous awards for his ability as a teacher, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers National Outstanding Educator for 2005, the Arizona Department of Education Leadership Award for 2006 and the City of Phoenix Outstanding Teacher of the Year each year from 2005–2009.
The Goodnight Scholars Program is targeted at North Carolina residents from middle-income families who aspire to study STEM or STEM-related education discipline at NC State.
NC State alumni Jim Goodnight, founder and CEO of the world’s leading business intelligence software vendor, SAS Institute, and Ann Goodnight, who is the director of community relations at SAS Institute and serves on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, established the Goodnight Scholars Program in 2008.
Doors for the event open at 6:45 p.m. and will be open to the public.