Boeing Invests $60,000 in Firewheel STEM Institute, Building on an Arizona STEM Legacy

By Kyle Macdonald, COO of Silicon Oasis

Some of Arizona’s most important innovation stories don’t begin inside venture-backed startups or corporate research labs. They begin in classrooms, workshops and robotics clubs, where students are given the tools—and the opportunity—to build something that has never existed before.

Few people represent that story better than Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi.

This week, Firewheel STEM Institute announced a $60,000 contribution from Boeing to expand STEM education, robotics and hands-on learning opportunities throughout Arizona. The funding will support Firewheel’s Mobile STEM Center, Chandler STEM Center, STEM workshops, National Underwater Robotics Challenge, Jeep Hack program and the infrastructure needed to operate those programs.

For Coach Fredi, it’s another chapter in a remarkable Arizona story more than two decades in the making.

From Carl Hayden to Firewheel

Before becoming CEO of Firewheel STEM Institute, Lajvardi spent 30 years teaching at Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix. He started Falcon Robotics Team 842 in 2002 and, alongside fellow educator Allan Cameron, helped build a robotics program that would eventually attract national attention.

In 2004, four Carl Hayden students entered an underwater robotics competition against a field that included college teams and MIT.

They won.

It was an extraordinary accomplishment for a public high school robotics team competing against university students, and it eventually became one of the best-known STEM education stories to come out of Arizona.

Their story inspired the 2015 feature film Spare Parts and was chronicled in the documentary Underwater Dreams. While Spare Parts took creative liberties with portions of the story, the achievement behind it was real: Arizona high school students built an underwater robot capable of competing with—and beating—university teams.

That legacy didn’t end at Carl Hayden.

Creating Opportunities to Build

After retiring from Carl Hayden in 2018, Lajvardi joined the Si Se Puede Foundation and eventually became its CEO and president. The organization has since rebranded as Firewheel STEM Institute, carrying forward a mission of bridging the STEM divide for underserved communities.

Today, Firewheel’s work extends across robotics, advanced manufacturing, 3D printing, engineering, electronics and other hands-on disciplines. Its Chandler STEM Center gives young people access to equipment and collaborative spaces, while its Mobile STEM Center brings those opportunities directly into communities across Arizona.

Firewheel also operates the National Underwater Robotics Challenge, continuing the connection to the kind of hands-on engineering that helped put Carl Hayden’s robotics program on the map. The annual competition challenges students to design, build, program and operate underwater robotic systems.

There is a powerful continuity to that story.

A teacher helps a group of Phoenix high school students build an underwater robot. Those students accomplish something extraordinary. Their story reaches audiences around the country through Underwater Dreams and Spare Parts. Two decades later, the same educator is still creating opportunities for Arizona students to design, manufacture, program and compete.

From STEM Programs to Arizona’s Talent Pipeline

The impact of Firewheel becomes even more significant when you look at what happens after students leave the workshop or competition.

Firewheel’s programs are helping create a pipeline into Arizona universities and some of the state’s most important technology employers.

Participants in Desert Wave, Firewheel’s all-female underwater robotics team, have gone on to opportunities including Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University, as well as internships and early-career opportunities with companies including Boeing and Microchip Technology.

That connection matters.

Hands-on engineering experience gives students something that is difficult to replicate exclusively in a classroom. They learn to design systems, build prototypes, troubleshoot failures, work under deadlines and solve problems as a team. Those experiences can become meaningful preparation for universities and employers looking for technically capable students who have already demonstrated that they can build.

It also demonstrates why programs like Firewheel should be viewed as more than extracurricular STEM education.

They are part of Arizona’s talent infrastructure.

Companies such as Boeing, Microchip and others operating in Arizona need a growing pipeline of engineers, technicians and technically skilled employees. Firewheel is helping students begin developing those capabilities years before they enter the workforce.

Building the Silicon Oasis Starts With Talent

At Silicon Oasis, our goal is to help build Arizona into one of America’s leading technology ecosystems.

That requires founders, investors, universities, major employers and policymakers. But it also requires organizations willing to begin much earlier in the pipeline.

Arizona is growing industries in aerospace and defense, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems and other emerging technologies. Those industries ultimately depend on people who know how to build.

Firewheel helps create those builders.

As Coach Fredi explained in announcing the Boeing contribution, these programs give young people a place to develop their skills, work alongside mentors, solve real-world problems and begin seeing themselves as future engineers, scientists, technicians and innovators.

There is another ecosystem benefit that deserves more attention: talent retention.

When young people can participate in world-class technical programs, attend strong Arizona universities and then find opportunities with major technology employers here, Arizona has a better opportunity to keep the talent it develops.

Firewheel can also be an asset in attracting talent to the state. For founders, executives and technical leaders considering Arizona, the strength of the educational and extracurricular opportunities available to their children can be part of the decision. Organizations like Firewheel demonstrate that Arizona offers young people opportunities to participate in serious, hands-on engineering long before college.

That makes Firewheel an important, and perhaps overlooked, piece of Arizona’s broader innovation ecosystem.

Boeing’s $60,000 contribution will help expand that work.

And in many ways, it is an investment in the same idea that Coach Fredi and the Carl Hayden robotics program demonstrated more than 20 years ago:

Talent is everywhere. Opportunity isn’t.

When Arizona creates more places where young people can build, experiment, fail, solve problems and try again, we aren’t simply teaching STEM.

We’re developing engineers. We’re creating pathways into Arizona companies. We’re giving students reasons to build their futures here.

We’re building the next generation of Arizona innovators.

For More Information

For partnership opportunities, programming inquiries, or to learn more about Firewheel STEM Institute, contact:

Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi
CEO, Firewheel STEM Institute
Email: fredi.lajvardi@firewheel.org
Phone: 480-266-9929

Contact information provided in Firewheel STEM Institute’s September 15, 2026 announcement.