Former NASA Engineer Lonnie Johnson Speaks at Florissant Valley

Dr. Lonnie Johnson,  (seen to the left) with Dr. Cheryl Watkins-Moore (seen to the right) after the Vision 2017 event.

Former NASA engineer, Lonnie Johnson, Ph.D., spoke on here at Flo Valley during the Vision 2017, small business innovation event, last month. Johnson, also the inventor of the Super Soaker water gun, joined Maxine Clark (Build-A-Bear Workshop, founder), Nicole Adewale (ABNA Engineering, cofounder), Bijal Desai-Ramirez (The Filament), and Jose Ponce (Remax Gold) to encourage students seeking career opportunities in business and entrepreneurship. The full-day symposium included hands-on workshops and panel discussions.

During the event, panelists talked about their business experiences.  Adewale said that to be a successful entrepreneur you must be willing to sacrifice. Other panelists echoed the need to put in long hours and hard work. “It’s the journey, not the destination,” said Clark.

Johnson took the stage at the end of the panel to explain how he came up with the Super Soaker idea and presented a slide show about his background, his time at NASA and the agency’s plans for the future. He urged the audience to pursue careers in STEM or whatever they deem fit to help change the world. 

“...Vision 2017 is an intentional outreach for women, people of color and immigrants. As well as anyone who’s really interested in understanding more about innovation as it crosses science, IT and manufacturing,” said Cheryl Watkins-Moore, Ph.D., event organizer. Moore focused on bringing women and people of color to speak on the panels to help attract diverse audiences to learn more about innovation, science, IT and manufacturing. 

In its third year, the symposium aims to step out of the Cortex community, a cluster of small STEM business upstarts in Midtown St. Louis, to reach a different audience of people in North St. Louis City and North County. The partnership with Saint Louis Community College-Florissant Valley allows students more exposure to entrepreneurship, STEM-based careers and networking with professionals in the fields.