Meet the Cork woman nurturing the STEM talent of the future

SUSAN Dunlea is passionate about exposing as many young people as possible to the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) and all the possibilities it presents.

She feels so strongly about it that she co-founded and leads The STEM Academy at Depuy Synthes, Johnson & Johnson, which was partly inspired by her children.

“As a mum of eight-year-old twin boys Aedan and Casey and inspired by their interest in our younger early educational programmes, we wanted to create an environment where youngsters could learn about STEM outside the classroom in a fun, interesting and engaging way and so the STEM Academy was born, bringing together all our educational programmes together under the one name,” said Susan.

Set up in 2017, it’s an outreach programme geared towards students aged five and upwards through primary, secondary, university, postgraduate, and apprentice programmes.

Susan is the Project Excellence Lead within Depuy Synthes, Johnson & Johnson, supporting the worldwide Engineering Science Technology Management & Innovation function.

But she readily admits being programme lead for the academy is the highlight of her role.

The initial pilot involved the rotation of robotics, Lego mindstorms, and 3D printing programmes across three schools.

“Following the success of these initiatives and having witnessed first-hand the engagement levels of the students, we raised the funding to donate the equipment to the schools so that they could run their own STEM programmes for years to come,” said Susan.

It’s so rewarding to give back to the community while playing a key role in developing our talent pipeline of future scientists and engineers.

“It is also important to showcase the different career paths within Depuy and that you don’t always have to go the traditional university route. That’s where our amazing apprentice programme comes in.

“Later this year, we will be adding further apprentices to our current group in areas such as Automation, Calibration, metrology, and 3D Printing, and our Co-Op and Graduate programme, will start working with Universities in September for 2024 recruitment.”

In its first year, the Academy reached 120 students, and five years later, they’ve reached 50,000 students through all its programmes online and in person.

That’s quite the success, and one of the reasons Susan won this year’s STEM Professional Award at the recent Network Cork Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

But there’s more!

Susan and the team also set up kids’ summer camps which are a real hit with employees.

It grew from 20 children in year one and one site; now, five years later, we will run four camps for 150 employees children over two weeks with three sites.

“At the STEM Summer camps, all our employees kids get to meet each other and experience the camp together – this is the fifth year of running the summer camp, and at this stage, a lot of the children are friends!”The team are also committed to bringing STEM to students that might not have the resources/technology available.

“That’s why the academy partnered with DEIS schools (Disadvantage Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) to run a 3D printing project.

“We also partnered with a local special needs school in conjunction with Junior Achievement to deliver a tailored programme and even went as far as Kenya to deliver a Lego robotics programme.

“We are also committed to sustainable growth by proactively developing and expanding STEM Academy early education programmes. We offer things like Solar Energy and Wind Energy programmes and a kids’ ‘how to build your own electric car’ programme.

“At one local school, where we completed a solar energy programme, the teacher was so impressed that he designed his own solar panels for the classroom to generate his own electricity.”

That’s endorsement of the highest order!

Susan, who lives in Carrigaline, joined Network Cork as she was aware that it was a fantastic way of creating connections.

“All the members are super-supportive and give the members a platform to showcase the fantastic work they do. I’ve been lucky enough to attend the Business Woman of the Year awards in Cork for the past four years running (and online during Covid); seeing all the wonderful nominees and winners over the years is inspiring, and connecting with fellow members and having meaningful conversations is fantastic.”

She was thrilled to win the STEM Professional Award, but stressed that it represented a real team effort.

It was an honour to be included in this category, especially given the calibre of the other finalists, including my colleague and friend Maura Deane, who runs our hugely successful Transition Year programme.

“To be recognised by my peers for work on something as important as STEM is very special. It is really humbling to receive the award in the presence of all these hugely talented people.

“And I was blown away by all the support and congratulatory messages from colleagues, family, and friends. My husband Paul, my amazing mum Gertie and my sister Vicki have shown great support, and I’ve been delighted to share this experience with them.”

Susan said she was motivated to enter the awards to bring more awareness to the Academy.

“I always say that if even a few students’ minds are changed from what they perceive as STEM, and their eyes are opened to the enormous possibilities or even just to spark an interest in STEM, that’s our jobs are done.”

Next week in WoW!: Carol Deasy of Occupational Health Solutions, who was named Emerging New Businesswoman at the Network Ireland Cork awards recently.