STEM Day at Medtronic

Maureen Modl, Math Teacher and Chris Kaus, Science Teacher
December 12, 2017

Thirty seniors interested in pursuing STEM careers visited the Medtronic Energy and Component Center (MECC) at the Medtronic branch in Brooklyn Center. The students were accompanied by faculty members Mr. Chris Kaus, Mrs. Maureen Modl, and Mrs. Joyce Nordby. We listened to an introductory presentation by Shira Skulsky, Senior Manufacturing Engineer at MECC, who talked about how Medtronic started and the mission of the company as well as its worldwide operations. This was followed by a brief welcome by Mark Otero, Vice President of Operations at MECC.

We learned how the traditional pacemaker and the newest model, the micra, and their component parts are manufactured at this facility. In addition, we examined all these products up close and were able to ask questions about them.

We then took a tour of the two buildings at this plant. Our tour guides included Chemical Engineer, Matt Awde, and Mechanical Engineer, Kalpesh Bambhania. We observed the assemblers in the labs and the engineers at work. Our guides gave us details of all the processes and procedures, as well as the challenges and the changes that have occurred in the manufacture of the products and all its components.

Following the tour, we participated in a panel discussion. There were six engineers on this panel who each talked about their work at Medtronic, their typical day, their background and how their education has contributed to their careers. The participating engineers were:

Alfredo Aguirre, Manufacturing Engineer

James Bomber, Test Engineer

Megan Bredehorst, Operations Engineer

Erin Claeys, Continuity Engineer

Andrew Nguyen, Development Engineer

Sarah Botross, Quality Engineer

After the panel presentation and discussion, we broke into small groups over lunch and had a question and answer session to learn more about life at Medtronic and the job responsibilities of the engineers and professional staff there.

After returning to Cretin-Derham Hall, we met for 45 minutes to reflect upon and to analyze our field trip, to discuss, and to get feedback regarding the experience.