Our Story

I am Grace Odom-Montbrun, a freshman at Vanderbilt University, with a goal to make engineering as accessible to all people as possible. In my engineering classes, I have often heard the stories of engineers falling in love with legos as children and being stereotypically masculine—however, that is far from my case. As a child, I played with barbies, did ballet, and loved the color pink. My dream was to be a ballet teacher. However, because my dad is an engineer, I was exposed to concepts that captured my curiosity. After observing my interest in his field, my dad nudged me to pursue engineering and I am forever grateful. Not every engineer plays with legos as a child and not every engineer has the same story.

I have witnessed a stark contrast in engineering education over the years. From disparities in education to unequal opportunities provided, it seems as though the extent is all-encompassing. Recently, feminist movements encouraging women to pursue STEM-related fields have greatly influenced young women and have motivated us to pursue careers that we might have previously considered out of our reach. I would like to do the same for other minorities in the engineering fields. Because of this, I founded Nuts and Bolts of Engineering, an organization that aims to foster a love for engineering in kids that may not have considered it as a career path. Projects will explore different fields of engineering, such as civil or mechanical engineering, and then short lessons will be taught to expand students’ knowledge of engineering and the world around them. The mini-lessons, instructions on how to do these projects, and updates will be posted here, on YouTube, and Instagram.