<p>As the real-life high school robotics coach played by actor and comedian George Lopez in the movie Spare Parts, Fredi Lajvardi is one of the nation’s leading STEM educators and a thought leader on the power of diverse teams to fuel creativity, innovation, and resilience in any organization. </p><p>Fredi Lajvardi captivated the country when he led his team of disadvantaged Latino teens in a university-level underwater robotics competition where they defeated leading schools, including top-ranked MIT. Their story inspired the acclaimed documentary <em>Underwater Dreams</em>, the IMAX film <em>Dream Big</em>, and the major motion picture, <em>Spare Parts</em>, starring actor and comedian George Lopez as Fredi. </p><p>After the initial waves of media attention died down, the Falcons continued to win awards at STEM competitions year after year. As an award-winning teacher at the Phoenix-area high school for over 30 years, Fredi helped revolutionize STEM education for the school—where the number of students going into engineering and technical fields and the number of college scholarships for those graduates increased dramatically—and nation-wide, as his program’s success inspired similar efforts around the country. </p><p>Today, Fredi is the President / CEO and Director of STEM Initiatives for the Si Se Puede Foundation, a prevention and advocacy organization dedicated to providing educational and leadership opportunities and services for underserved populations. With humor and passion, Fredi brings audiences on his inspiring journey, illustrating the importance for all organizations of investing in people and the critical role that diversity plays in building teams that are innovative, creative and resilient.</p>
President, CEO and Director of STEM Initiatives at Si Se Puede Foundation; Subject of the Documentary <em>Underwater Dreams</em>, the IMAX film <em>Dream Big</em>, and the Book and Major Motion Picture <em>Spare Parts</em>
<ul><li><strong>Improbable to Unstoppable</strong></li><li>Fredi Lajvardi’s story captured the nation’s attention when his team of Latino high school teens channeled their inner spirit of drive, ingenuity, and creativity to beat the odds and become an unstoppable force, winning one robotics competition after another. The story was captured in the documentary <em>Underwater Dreams</em>, the IMAX film <em>Dream Big</em>, and in the book and major motion picture <em>Spare Parts</em>, starring comedic legend George Lopez. In inspiring and frequently hilarious presentations, Fredi Lajvardi shares how his national champion robotics team achieved such unprecedented success and explains why hands-on, STEM education is so important. He also shares invaluable insights on leadership, fostering teamwork, and leveraging diversity to build teams that are creative, innovative and resilient.</li><li><strong>Diversity is the Key</strong></li><li>A teacher whose own youth as an Iranian immigrant helped him connect with students in the predominantly Hispanic high school where he taught for over 30 years, Fredi Lajvardi shows audiences why diversity is key to building teams that support and motivate each other, fueling creative innovation and problem solving in remarkable ways. As organizations look for the secrets to attracting, nurturing, and motivating talent, Fredi shares the secrets of leading high-performing teams, and he helps audiences see the critical role that diversity plays in building resilient, innovative organizations.</li><li><strong>The Future of Education</strong></li><li>Multiple studies show that the way we educate kids today isn’t relevant in an information economy. STEM advocate and award-winning science teacher Fredi Lajvardi draws on his remarkable experiences coaching the famed “Spare Parts” high school robotics club to explore how and why project-based, hands-on education programs do a better job of encouraging creativity and innovation by teaching kids how to solve real-world problems and how to work with others on diverse, high-performing teams that can accomplish more than any individual can on their own.</li></ul>