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# At STEPCon, Riverside's STEM Pipeline Starts With a Kid-Height Power Pole
- URL: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/at-stepcon-riversides-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a-kid-height-power-pole/
- Published: 2026-11-03T12:59:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T12:59:00.000Z
- Description: At the 27th annual student conference on the Bourns campus, fourth graders worked a utility pole, high school researchers coached younger students and Gordon Bourns waited his turn at the robot.
- Author: Justin Pardee
- Tags: Education, K-12, Higher Education, Business, Sponsored, #front-gallery, #top-cover, #herald-407ef165-d2ee-8158-b0a8-dd5452120b1b

The power pole at STEPCon was built short on purpose.

Riverside Public Utilities brought a new exhibit to this year's student conference: a miniature utility pole carrying one of the big gray transformers that hang above streets across the city. RPU set it low enough that a student could reach the fixture with a lineworker's hot stick, hook it and pull down to disconnect a high-voltage line, the way crews do from a bucket truck, then reconnect it and do it again. An RPU bucket truck was parked just behind it.

"They had kids who were practicing disconnecting it and then connecting it again," said Gordon Bourns, who singled it out as one of the best new exhibits of the day.

The crew running it was enjoying the change of pace. One RPU lineworker at the exhibit said lineworkers love their jobs and would normally rather be out in the field doing them, but days like STEPCon are fun because they get to watch kids get excited about the work crews do every day.

Bourns has a professional interest in that kind of thing. He is chairman and CEO of Bourns Inc., the Riverside electronic components maker his parents founded in 1947, and he chairs the board of the [Science and Technology Education Partnership](https://www.stepconference.org/?ref=raincrossgazette.com), the nonprofit that puts on STEPCon. On Oct. 8 he was also a fan. Outside, an instructor from Cal State San Bernardino was walking students through a few moves with a robotic dog, then handing over the controls.

"I'm hoping I can stand in line and do that too," Bourns said.

The fun has a purpose. Just 26% of Riverside County residents 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 37% in Los Angeles County and 45% in Orange County, according to the Southern California Association of Governments' [2025 regional economic update](https://scag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/26-426-ES-0357-RegionalEconomicAnalysis2025CountyReportsRiversideSanBernardino-Final.pdf?ref=raincrossgazette.com). More than half of the county's working residents, 53%, commute to jobs outside it, and the report found that the sectors most likely to produce better-paying jobs still make up a small share of local employment. STEP was chartered to help close the gap between local students and the needs of high-tech employers.

## Stage One: 1,500 Students and a Fusion Lab's Science Show

STEPCon, now in its 27th year, brought about 1,500 students in grades 4-12 to the Bourns Technology Center on Columbia Avenue, according to [the Gazette's coverage of the day](https://www.raincrossgazette.com/at-stepcon-inland-empire-students-chase-their-dreams-of-scientific-discovery/) by Erik Chen, a Martin Luther King High School senior and Gazette student contributor. The conference is free for students. Teachers register their classes through STEP.

The day belongs to the students, but the campus belongs to Bourns, which has hosted the conference since 2010, according to company press releases. School buses pull into the company lot off Columbia, unload at the flagpole and park behind the solar panels until it is time to leave. Volunteers in STEPCon T-shirts steer groups from room to room. There are no bells, so teachers keep their own time.

![A man presents on stage beside a large illuminated globe prop, with a big screen and seated audience of students watching.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/at-stepcon-riverside-s-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a.jpg)

(Justin Pardee)

![Two girls in an audience film a lit stage with their phones during an event in a large hall](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/at-stepcon-riverside-s-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a-1.jpg)

(Justin Pardee)

![Rows of children and adults seated in a large hall, watching a colorful light display on the ceiling](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/at-stepcon-riverside-s-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a-2.jpg)

(Justin Pardee)

From left, General Atomics' Science on Stage presenters work under the show's "Energy, Matter and Time" screen, students record the show on their phones, and a packed auditorium watches during STEPCon on Oct. 8 at the Bourns Technology Center.

The busiest room was the auditorium. Science on Stage, presented by scientists from General Atomics, which operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, ran five times between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. This year's show was titled "Energy, Matter and Time." Chen watched students gasp as Ping-Pong balls crushed soda cans. In the rows, students filmed the show on their phones, and STEP streamed it online for classrooms that couldn't make the trip. Volunteers handed out collectible trading cards featuring the show's characters, a STEPCon tradition.

Down the hall, the esports room ran on a simple rule: students who knew the games demonstrated them, then invited newcomers to sit down and compete. A troupe of costumed eco superheroes rallied the crowd before their show. Outside, in the exhibitor zone, the hands-on rule held.

![A student esports player coaches a younger visitor through a racing video game at STEPCon.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/at-stepcon-riverside-s-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a-3.jpg)

![Performers in eco superhero costumes rally a crowd of students before their show at STEPCon.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/at-stepcon-riverside-s-stem-pipeline-starts-with-a-4.jpg)

From left, a student esports player coaches a younger visitor through a racing game, and costumed eco superheroes rally students before their show at STEPCon on Oct. 8\. | Justin Pardee

"We really encourage our exhibitors to do as much hands-on as possible," Bourns said.

At the Riverside Fire Department's booth, firefighters showed off a handheld infrared camera about the size of a cell phone, small enough to clip to the front of a turnout coat and raise in a smoke-filled room. Firefighters told Bourns the new cameras cost about $1,500, compared with $6,000 to $7,000 for the bulky units they replaced, which means every firefighter can carry one.

Bourns' own booth was staffed by employees who volunteered for the day to run science activities and hand out prizes, and Gordon Bourns works the booth himself every year.

![Children watch a thermal camera demonstration on a screen while a man films them with a camcorder in a classroom.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/students-watch-themselves-on-a-thermal-camera-at-the-naval.jpg)

Students watch themselves on a thermal camera at the Naval Surface Warfare Center booth, and a student takes the wheel of a racing simulator in the STEPCon exhibitor zone on Oct. 8\. | Justin Pardee

## Stage Two: High School Researchers Teach the Younger Kids

High school scientists from Riverside and San Bernardino counties[ presented their research to younger students](https://www.raincrossgazette.com/p/d642c151-81f5-47f5-a4c0-cca172c51f05/), Chen reported, with projects ranging from filtering volatile organic compounds to protect firefighters to genetically engineering crops.

One of those presenters, International Science and Engineering Fair finalist Faustin Zhang, a senior at Los Osos High School, told Chen what the day meant to him.

"Seeing the happiness on the kids' faces when they realized anyone could pursue science research, and recognizing I was once in their position, was truly meaningful," Zhang said.

His advice to the younger students was practical: research is long and tedious, and they shouldn't quit.

## Where It Started: A Heathkit Radio and a TEDx Motor Kit

Bourns traces his own start to his parents' house. Marlan Bourns was the inventor. Rosemary Bourns kept the books and ran the business, and her son says the company couldn't have existed without both of them.

"My dad was terrible at things like paying bills or even collecting money from invoices," he said.

The Bourns children were put to work on projects. Gordon and his three sisters built a Heathkit radio, which taught them to solder, and then a set of walkie-talkies. When their parents built a new home, the children helped wire the intercom and music systems, pulling cable through the attic.

"It just showed me that doing things like electronics would be fun as a career," he said.

Gordon Bourns walks a TEDxRiverside audience through building a motor from a kit left under every seat during his 2014 talk, "Hands-on STEM education," at the Fox Performing Arts Center. | TEDx Talks

In 2014, he tried to give a theater full of adults the same experience. Invited to speak at TEDxRiverside at the Fox Performing Arts Center, Bourns chose [hands-on STEM education](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP51GNmEQW8&ref=raincrossgazette.com) as his subject. With help from his wife, family and friends, he packed small bags with the parts to build a motor and placed one under every seat in the theater, which he estimates at 1,100 to 1,200\. Partway through his talk, which had to stay around 11 minutes, he told the audience to pull out the bags. He walked them through the build, and most of them got their motors running.

Then he decided a talk wasn't enough.

"I thought I need to really put my actions where my mouth is," he said.

## Stage Three: Free Summer STEM Labs Built on a Factory Floor Process

Bourns was then on the Riverside Police Foundation board, and Sergio Diaz, Riverside's police chief from 2010 to 2019, sold him on getting involved, especially with at-risk kids. Working with Diaz and Riverside Unified School District, Bourns helped build a weeklong summer program focused on hands-on STEM work.

His reasoning: STEPCon gets students excited about STEM careers, but it lasts half a day. A week could take them further.

For the format, he borrowed from his own factory floor. Bourns runs its continuous improvement work through Kaizen Weeks, part of what the company calls the Bourns Production System.

"Kaizen in Japanese means good change," Bourns said.

The STEM Summer Learning Labs follow the same rhythm. Students spend the first part of the week learning to gather and analyze data, brainstorm as a team and present. They visit working sites such as the Riverside Fire Department's training center and the police department's Magnolia Station, where they meet the canine unit and the SWAT team. By Friday afternoon, each team presents a project to a panel of judges, and the top three teams earn scholarship prizes of $200, $150 and $100 per student, according to STEP's 2025 impact report.

Bourns called the Friday presentations "the epitome" of hands-on education, and he credits STEPCon with getting many of those students in the door in the first place.

The first lab, STEM in Law Enforcement and Public Safety, or STEM LEAPS, served 120 Riverside high school students when the city announced it in July 2017\. This past summer, Bourns said, STEP ran 10 programs. Among them are STEM PULL with Riverside Public Utilities, STEM in Advanced Manufacturing, STEM in Defense and STEM Solutions with UC Riverside, along with academies for fifth through eighth graders that feed into the high school labs. The labs are free for high school students, and this year STEP took programs as far as the Coachella Valley, Temecula and San Bernardino.

![Two young men demonstrate a small robotics project to children seated around it on the ground](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/engineering-students-from-california-baptist-university-s.jpg)

Engineering students from California Baptist University's Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering show a younger student their robot in the STEPCon exhibitor zone on Oct. 8\. | Justin Pardee

## Stage Four: Quantum Engineering, AI and UCR's New Manufacturing Hub

STEM Solutions is the summer's finale, and its newest focus started with a student.

The program pairs high schoolers with UC Riverside's College of Engineering and School of Medicine. This year's subject was bioengineering, and one participant was the son of a UCR professor. The professor liked what his son came home with and approached STEP with an idea: quantum engineering.

Quantum computers, Bourns explained, still fill entire rooms, largely because of the cooling. The machines must run within a tiny fraction of a degree of absolute zero. Building them, the professor told STEP, will take engineers who understand thermodynamics and high-frequency electronics.

So STEM Solutions will focus on quantum engineering next summer, with the professor teaching the college student mentors first.

"Maybe it's our program 11 down the road if it really turns out well," Bourns said.

The top of the pipeline is growing too. Earlier this month, UC Riverside [announced a gift from the Bourns Foundation](https://aim.ucr.edu/news/2026/10/14/bourns-foundation-gift-helps-ucrs-aim-hub-take-shape?ref=raincrossgazette.com) to its new Advanced and Integrated Manufacturing Hub, led by Founding Director Kavan Hazeli. The gift funds the first phase of a digital engineering platform where students and industry partners can model products and manufacturing lines and test them virtually before anything is built.

It's the latest link in a long chain. UCR's engineering college has carried Marlan and Rosemary Bourns' names since 1994, after a $6 million gift that their four children proposed. A $1 million Bourns Foundation gift helped launch the city's [Bourns Family Youth Innovation Center](https://www.raincrossgazette.com/hidden-gem-in-riverside-makes-stem-accessible-to-youth/) on Miller Street. Gordon Bourns, the foundation's vice president, said he can't wait to give students tours of the new hub.

In [UCR's announcement of the gift](https://aim.ucr.edu/news/2026/10/14/bourns-foundation-gift-helps-ucrs-aim-hub-take-shape?ref=raincrossgazette.com), Bourns, who has chaired the engineering college's Council of Advisors for more than two decades, said backing the hub from the start fits his parents' goal of developing engineering talent in Riverside.

"We hope many of these students will build their careers right here in the Inland Empire," he said in the announcement.

That is the point of the whole chain.

"A lot of what we do with the STEP conference is to create a pipeline for outstanding engineers," Bourns said. "That's where we're going to be drawing our future employees from."

What those future employees will need is changing fast. Asked where technology is headed, Bourns went straight to artificial intelligence.

"It's a tool and you need to know how to use the tool wisely," he said.

He doesn't think students in fifth grade or younger are mature enough to use it well. But he wants schools teaching what AI can and can't do, and what not to use it for, by middle school or high school. He's still learning the lesson himself, he said: the results depend on how clearly you tell it what you want.

Employers are already asking. Bourns said the head of human resources at one of the region's health insurance providers told him she won't hire anyone who doesn't have a good handle on AI.

It's the same skill the new hub is built to teach. UCR's plans for the AIM platform pair digital twins with AI, sensing and real manufacturing data, so students can test an idea on a screen before it ever reaches a factory floor.

## The Sponsors, Teachers and Counselors Behind STEPCon

None of it runs on one company. STEP was Rep. Ken Calvert's idea 27 years ago: a way to close the gap between what local employers needed and what local schools were turning out. Today it runs on a partnership that includes the Riverside County Office of Education, Riverside Unified, the city's police, fire and utilities departments, UCR, Cal State San Bernardino, General Atomics and dozens of fiscal and in-kind sponsors. Debra Johnson, STEP's coordinator, runs the conference.

At midday on Oct. 8, STEP gathered those sponsors over lunch. Yamileth Shimojyo, who oversees STEM for the Riverside County Office of Education and serves as STEP's vice chair, opened by thanking the room.

"Everyone who's in the room right now is either a fiscal sponsor, an in-kind sponsor or both," she said. "None of this can happen today without you all being here today."

![Gordon Bourns speaks to sponsors and partners at a lunch during STEPCon at the Bourns Technology Center.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/11/gordon-bourns-chairman-and-ceo-of-bourns-inc-and-chair-of.jpg)

Gordon Bourns, chairman and CEO of Bourns Inc. and chair of the Science and Technology Education Partnership board, welcomes sponsors and partners to lunch during STEPCon on Oct. 8 at the Bourns Technology Center in Riverside. | Justin Pardee

The student day is only the start of STEP's October. On Oct. 27 and 28, the same campus hosted Educator STEPCon and Counselor STEPCon, free professional development for the teachers who bring students to the conference and the counselors who help them choose their math classes. STEP announces its student scholarship recipients at the educator conference; last year it awarded two $1,000 scholarships to high school students from Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

## 'We Are Not Going Anywhere'

Seventy-nine years after his parents started the company in their garage, Bourns is planning for the generations that will run it next. He is clear about where they'll be.

"Riverside's our headquarters. We are not going anywhere," he said. "Riverside's been a great place to raise a family and grow a company."

A fourth grader who pulled that hot stick on Oct. 8 will be old enough for a summer lab in five years.

More information

Where

[Bourns Technology Center, Columbia Avenue](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&destination=Bourns%20Technology%20Center%2C%20Columbia%20Avenue&ref=raincrossgazette.com)

When

Oct. 27 and 28

Cost

Free