Our Team

Katherin Steinbacher, Executive Director/Founder

Katy founded STEM GRO as a natural expression of her dual passions for engineering and teaching.

Holding degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Kansas, she is a registered Professional Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the engineering industry, managing and mentoring students and young professionals. She also spent five years as an elementary and middle-school science and engineering classroom teacher.

Katy is passionate about the absolute necessity of a strong foundation in S.T.E.M. disciplines and she is committed to ensuring that all young people, especially those historically underserved and underrepresented in S.T.E.M., have access to high quality engineering activities.

Debra Brucker, Educational Consultant

Debbie has over 20 years’ experience in the elementary and middle-school classroom, specializing in math. Her holistic way of looking at S.T.E.M. curricula allows her to create and implement lessons and activities that are engaging, interactive, and just plain FUN!

She helps STEM GRO with the creation, review, and implementation of program lessons and activities.

Frank McMahon, Industry Consultant

Frank has been a part of the engineering and construction industry for over 30 years. He works with STEM GRO to help ensure that students understand the real world applications of their S.T.E.M. challenges and to help facilitate the construction phases of many of the projects. He provides a crucial link for our programs to the S.T.E.M. industry at work today.

Program Assistants

STEM GRO employs upper level science, engineering, and mathematics students from local universities and colleges to work as Program Leads and high school students as Program Assistants. These young professionals bring knowledge, experience, and tons of energy to our programs as well as serve as excellent role models for our participants. “You gotta SEE IT to BE IT!”