Two green leaves sprouting from a single stem on a transparent background.

ABOUT ENGINEER @ HOME

Every child is an engineer.

They just don't always know it yet.

Engineer @ Home was created to help families discover the engineering that already exists in everyday life. Through play. curiosity, and shared problem-solving, we help children develop confidence, creativity, and a lifelong sense of belonging in STEM.

Explore Activites

Meet the Team

Woman and boy building a geometric structure with wooden sticks and connectors at a table.

Stylized green hills with a small sprouting plant on the left and layered brown and beige hills on the right.

Our Story

Engineer @ Home began with a simple observation: children are constantly engineering.

Notice

Imagine

Build

Whether they are building forts, cooking dinner with their families, designing bird feeders, repairing bicycles, or creating imaginative worlds through play, children naturally ask questions, solve problems, and improve ideas.

Yet these moments are rarely recognized as engineering.

We created Engineer @ Home to change that. Our mission is to help families recognize, celebrate, and nurture engineering thinking in everyday life while making engineering more accessible, joyful, and welcoming for all children.

Our Vision

Engineering belongs...

In Home

in backyards

in libraries

in museums

in communities

in families

in every child's imagination

What We Believe

Every child is capable of engineering.

Play is a powerful way to learn.

Families are children's first teachers.

Culture and community strengthen engineering learning.

Questions matter more than having the right answer.

Engineering is about trying, learning, and improving together.

Our Framework

Our work is grounded in research and guided by a framework that recognizes where engineering learning begins-and how it grows.

Play

Family Relationships

Everyday Contexts

Community Assets

Engineering Practices

Identity, Belonging & Agency (Outcomes)

Meet the Team

Our Team

Over-identified

Dr. Tamecia Jones

Co-Investigator

Supported the development of family-centered experiences, curriculum design, caregiver engagement, and developmental research that shaped the early growth of Engineer @ Home.

Over-identified

Dr. Lauren Mims

Co-Investigator

Supported the development of family-centered experiences, curriculum design, caregiver engagement, and developmental research that shaped the early growth of Engineer @ Home.

Over-identified

Dr. Jessica Rush Leker

Founder & Principal Investigator (2025–2026)

Supported the development of family-centered experiences, curriculum design, caregiver engagement, and developmental research that shaped the early growth of Engineer @ Home.

Over-identified

Dr. Samieh Askarian Khanamani

Postdoctoral Researcher (2025–Present)

Supports curriculum development, informal engineering learning research, family-centered STEM education, and the ongoing design and evaluation of Engineer @ Home.

Meet Our Families

Smiling family of four assembling a craft project together at a wooden table outdoors.

"We built a bridge outof cereal boves andtape. It kept fallingdown until wechanged the triangles." Now we build betterones!

- The Nguyen Family

Browse Gellevities

Partners

Coming Soon

We're excited to collaborate with schools, libraries, museums, community organizations, researchers, and industry partners who share our vision for expanding family-centered engineering learning.

Magnifying glass over bar chart with upward arrow and a growing plant to the side.

Our Support

Engineer Home is supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2520318.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Helping families discover the engineering that already happens in everyday life.

Engineer Home is supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No.2520318.

Any opinions. findings, conclusions, orroconnendetiona espresand on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.