About us
We are a public-benefit nonprofit organization.
Founders
Tong Jin (TJ) Kim/ CEO
Tong Jin (TJ) Kim is a professor of Industrial design at Purdue University, and as a design leader, he has created many community platforms to help educate young minds with design thinking and experiential learning.
Danny Oh/ COO
Danny Oh is an entrepreneur and business consultant. He has a passion for helping close the gap between education and industry by connecting the dots in our community.
Team Leaders
Rebecca Goodman
Director of Community Engagement
Rebecca Goodman received her Masters in Nonprofit Management in 2008 from the University of Arizona. She has worked or volunteered in the nonprofit sector for the last 25 years.
Cindy Landrum
Director of Strategic Marketing
Cindy Landrum received her doctoral degree in strategic marketing in higher education in 2018 from Purdue University. She is a passionate and dedicated person who has vast finance, leadership, and management experience in the manufacturing industry for 10 years.
Juyeoun Park
Director of Finance
Juyeoun Park is a Certified Public Accountant(CPA) licensed in Indiana State. She has worked as a tax accounting professional with over 10 years of progressive experience in tax consulting and brokerage firms.
Our Instructors
Chanho Shin/3D printing & CAD
Chanho Shin is an Industrial Engineering Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University. He is also a Graduate Administrative Assistant / Professional at Bechtel Innovation Design Center. He has a great understanding of manufacturing automation and applying skills and a strong passion for process optimization.
Jared Boone/ Digital Animation
Jared is a junior in Industrial Design at Purdue University, currently working as a videographer for Purdue Food Company. He is passionate about storytelling through film and video and has been making short films since he was a kid. He believes everyone and everything has a great story just waiting to be told.
Heesu Kang/ Minecraft Coding
Heesu Kang is a Computer Graphics Technology Major and Computer Information Technology Minor student at Purdue University.
He has experience teaching in public schools and is passionate about designing and programming using computer software.
Caroline Hammonds/ VR Art
Hi, my name is Caroline, and I am a first-year industrial design student at Purdue University. I have always loved art and designed the tunnel mural “Ethereal Rhapsody “on the Monon trail in central Indiana.
Hope Jang/ Robotics
My name is Hope, and I am a UX Design student at Purdue University. I love to eat, dance, and learn new things!
Alissa Dawson/ K-Pop Dance
Student at Purdue University currently majoring in the Japanese Language. I've been dancing since I was 5 and found a passion for it at a young age. I love teaching other people about dance and dancing together in teams, and I'm currently part of a dance team at Purdue University.
Keegan Wright/ TinkerCAD
My name is Keegan Wright, and I am an Industrial Design student at Purdue University. Also formally educated in both Web and Graphic Design.
Ambika Chauhan/ Digital Animation
Hi everyone! My name is Ambika Chauhan, and I am currently a student at Purdue University studying Industrial Design. I am originally from Austin, TX and have always been fascinated by the ability of animation to make drawings come to life.
Hyunsoo Choi/ STEM Challenge
Hyunsoo Choi is an Electrical Engineering Ph.D. Student at Purdue University. He has experience in teaching creativity classes and capstone projects.
Francille Zhuang/ ART
Francille Zhuang is a first year Purdue student studying Computer Science with a minor in Art and Design. She loves drawing and painting as a creative outlet and hopes she can share it with others.
Board Members
Bob Dearing
President of Dearing Group/ a full-service advertising agency located in West Lafayette, IN
Dana Weinstein
Associate Dean of Graduate Education in the College of Engineering
Timothy VanderPlaats
Vice President & Senior Commercial Lender · First Farmers Bank & Trust
Technical Advisors
Guillermo Melantoni
Senior Product Line Manager: Tinkercad & Fusion 360 · Autodesk
Guillermo has been involved in apps for Education at Autodesk for the last 10 years and has been heading Tinkercad since 2013. He has a passion for opening up a world of possibilities around design and fabrication to all curious kids, promoting a design thinking mindset.
Barbara Young
Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Purdue University.
Barbara Young is an NCIDQ certified Interior Designer, registered in the State of Indiana, and LEED Accredited Professional with practice experience in commercial and education environments. Her research areas include design process and participation in the design of public and academic spaces.
Our Location
Our Current Location
We are currently partnering with Temple Israel to provide STEAM, such as 3D printing, CAD, Media-Tech, coding, and cultural education, such as dance and languages.
Our Future Location
Our goal is to build an experiential learning/community center for kids and youth, where the young generations can learn through engagement with others. So, we are looking for founding individual, industry, and organization partners to share and grow the vision.
Learn about us
Our vision for the future/ design by Barbara L. Young, Laura Bittner, TJ Kim