NASA educator has goal of exposing every W.Va. student and teacher to robotics
Jun. 24—FAIRMONT — Todd Ensign has dedicated nearly two decades to his mission of exposing West Virginia students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ensign, who has served 18 years as NASA's Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility's Education Resource Center Program Manager, has had the privilege of working with educators across the state of West Virginia.
He travels across the state teaching students and teachers how to use robotics technology and giving them trainings and technology worth thousands of dollars. He also plans state and national tournaments, which are held at Fairmont State University, and oversees 10 unique robotics programs. Every year, Ensign's programs reach over 20,000 students in West Virginia.
On May 19 and 20, the Aerial Drone Competition Championship: Dragonfly was held on Fairmont State's campus. Students from across the country and 10 different states came to compete in one of the four national championships held this year. Ensign said it was a significant achievement not only for the NASA Education Resource Center and Fairmont State, but for the entire state of West Virginia, as the four final teams competing in two alliances (two teams per alliance) were all from West Virginia.
"The whole thing was just fantastic. It was a very significant night. I just felt super proud of my team because we pulled off this great event," Ensign said.
Ensign grew up predominantly in Freehold, New Jersey, but spent a lot of time vacationing in West Virginia. He attended Northern Arizona University and obtained a bachelor's degree in earth science education. Then, he received his master's degree in educational technology. He moved with his then wife, while she worked towards her doctorate at West Virginia University. Ensign also started working towards his doctorate and graduated with an educational doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction. He said he's proud to be both a Lumberjack and Mountaineer.
Ensign makes sure to have a healthy work/life balance. In his free time, he gets outside where he is either rock climbing, camping, skiing, hiking, white water kayaking, mountain biking or anything in between.
"I'm an outdoor enthusiast and my whole team knows that, since we work so many weekends, I typically take every Wednesday off. I go skiing either at Canaan Valley or White Grass during the winters. During the summer, I spend a great deal of time paddling, mountain biking and camping. Even on a daily basis, I generally go to a yoga class or something, so I'm always out and very active," Ensign said.
Through his work across West Virginia, he's met teachers, coaches, after school program leaders and a variety of kids. He met Woodrow Wilson High Math and Robotics Teacher Jo Frost 15 years ago during the FIRST Lego League Program. Frost became involved with robotics after moving from North Carolina and realized the lack of STEM resources available to students in West Virginia. She said robotics is a way to help kids thrive. She coached four robotics teams this year and also was named the Volunteer of the Year for the Robotics Education Foundation.
"If anybody's on the fence about joining robotics, my joke is 'I don't know anything, I'm just enthusiastic.' But being enthusiastic this year, I had four teams, we traveled all over the state and got to meet fantastic people. It's a tremendous opportunity for these kids," Frost said.
Frost said there are members of her team who are in foster care. The goal is to try to include and reach students who might not always be put first — students of color, students in foster care or anyone they can. She said their work would not be possible without Ensign.
"He has unlimited potential for perseverance. He is sticky — the word I would use because he just sticks with it and sticks to the program. He saw a niche and a miss with the education with NASA IV&V. He saw where we're missing a way to build kids up and he has absolutely stuck with that and persevered, for the 15 years I've known him. It's wonderful to see his passion for our kids, his family, and kids across West Virginia," Frost said.
But, Ensign said the work would not be possible without volunteers, employees and NASA.
"Without the support of the NASA facility — the vision and work our team does — these opportunities wouldn't exist. ... There is literally no other NASA center in the nation that offers the same level of support and programming that we do. ... Our education outreach initiative is frankly unparalleled and I don't think I'm bragging. I think I'm just stating something as if you were to interview any of the teachers that attended our trainings or anyone who's moved out of state, they'll tell you that there's just nothing like what we do anywhere else associated with NASA," Ensign said.
To get involved or for more information, visit the NASA IV&V website. To sign up for a robotics program or learn more about robotics, specifically, visit West Virginia Robotics Alliance website.
Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com
or 304-367-2549.
