Are robotics for you?

Absolutely, says author, researcher, educator and keynote speaker Dr. Carlotta Berry.

Robotics, she continues, encompasses all areas of interest--including art, history, music and even creative writing.

Carlotta, who teaches electrical engineering and robotics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, has coined the term "NoireSTEMinist®" to describe her work. A "NoireSTEMinist®", she explains on her LinkedIn profile, "devises new and innovative ways to bring STEM to people and bring people to STEM in order to diversify the field".

Her own new and innovative ways include writing black STEM romance novels, teaching "Robotics for the Streets" workshops to engage students and makers of all interests in robotics, and even creating hip-hop "Robot Slam Poetry", combining robotics with Black history, on her YouTube channel.

AND, as of March 2024, she's published her first in a children's book series, "There's a Robot in My Closet".

(Carlotta also taught a virtual "Robotics for the Streets" workshop for the 2023 Make: Education forum, featuring a modular, open-source robot she created, which fellow educators could download and 3D print for use in their classrooms!)

In this summer, 2023 interview, Carlotta discussed her professional journey, some of the ways arts-oriented students fit into the STEM professions and the story of creating her two nonprofits, Black in Engineering and Black in Robotics.