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This summer, NextFlex welcomed interns Neve Apte, a Junior studying Computer Engineering, and Casey Chen, a Senior studying Manufacturing Systems, to our San Jose Innovation Hub. Over the course of 10 weeks, Neve and Casey took great advantage of the wealth of tools and expertise available at NextFlex to bolster their understanding of Hybrid Electronics and gain valuable real-world manufacturing a

In the seven years that Sterling Powers has been a military spouse, she has moved three times, including a sojourn in Cambridge, England, and in North Carolina, where she completed a degree in sculpture.Currently located in Albuquerque, Sterling saw a post in a local social media group sharing a flyer for an Internet of Things (IoT) bootcamp at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM). Intrigued

Neve Apte is a computer engineering major at San Jose State University. She always gravitated towards STEM subjects in school, finding them to be the most interesting – especially physics. While the public speaking aspect of the competition wasn’t new to her when she participated in NextFlex’s FlexFactor program during her senior year in high school, the subject of hybrid electronics was. The prod

Jordan Tachibana participated in FlexFactor® twice during high school in 2016 and 2017, including the pilot program at Lincoln High School through her AP Language class and again through her business class. She enjoyed the pitch aspect of the competition, especially thinking through the marketing of a new product. A memory that stands out to her from her time in FlexFactor includes meeting with th

As a teen, Gabriel Degler always had an interest in robotics and engineering. This interest inspired him to enroll in a popular advanced engineering systems class during his junior year of high school. As part of his class curriculum, Gabriel participated in the newly established FlexFactor® competition through his school’s career center.  FlexFactor is a STEM education program designed by NextFle

In April, NextFlex launched its Education & Workforce Development Working Group with its kickoff meeting. Over 40 committed members and stakeholders met to share their insights into education and workforce development initiatives. The working group broke out into three subgroups focusing on roadmapping, K-12, and work-based learning programs, and will continue to meet regularly throughout the year

Last week we were pleased to host this semester’s FlexFactor at the NextFlex offices. Four teams of high school students competed by pitching their inventive products to a panel of esteemed judges composed of Robert de Neve, General Partner & Chief Strategist General Partner & Chief Strategist at NextPhase Ventures; Christine Holly Ngo, VP of Operations and Business Development at Silicon Valley E

By Courtney Power, Deputy Director, Education and Workforce Development, NextFlexHaving just concluded the academic year, the NextFlex team took a moment to reflect on the amazing progress the FlexFactor program has made since its inception in 2016, and celebrated the impact that the program is having around the country by updating our success metrics. Cumulatively, the FlexFactor program has serv

NextFlex’s Deputy Director of Education and Workforce Development, Courtney Power, represented NextFlex and The Boeing Company at Explora’s Donor Societies Reception. Explora Science Center & Children’s Museum, located in Albuquerque, NM, houses over 250 exhibit activities in science, technology, and art for families and people of all ages to learn from and enjoy.Through the generosity of The Boei

NextFlex, in collaboration with NIST, held a discussion on dispelling the myths of Advanced Manufacturing. Some common manufacturing myths are: manufacturing is dirty and dangerous; manufacturing is unskilled; manufacturing means long hours and being underpaid; manufacturing is working on an assembly line. Our moderator, Brad Conrad, guided a discussion around these and other myths to provide curr