AAERO Ltd Executive Director Joseph Kern has written multiple successful federal and state grant proposals, with awards totaling over $1.28 million.  Recent awards include:

• 2022-2024 USDA Regional Food Systems Partnerships grant for $142,000, creating a county-wide Food Hub, and serving as Education and Assessment Coordinator.

•  2017-2021 National Science Foundation award of nearly $500,00 for Agricultural Applications of Computer Science project, on which he serves as a co-investigator

• Institute of Museum and Library Services award of $35,000 (2020-2021) to create a digital tour of Santa Fe Trail sites in Rice County, KS, serving as Project Manager.  

Previous grant funding sources include the Kansas Board of Regents and Kansas State Department of Education.  Teacher accomplishments as a direct result of this outreach include development of the Buff Robotics team at Garden City HS and Neodesha's North Lawn WILD Club. 

Kern works with individual schools and museums to develop project concepts and proposals for funding at a range of levels.

As an Instructional Designer at Emporia State University, Kern developed training programs to help professors and students capitalize on the capabilities of a variety of educational technologies, including tutorial development that was instrumental in a 1:1 iPad rollout and adoption of Google suite apps.  

Through his grant work he has provided long-term training and mentorship for K-12 teachers across Kansas and has presented at state and national conferences for STEM and CTE education.  Rather than giving canned presentations, AAERO Ltd is interested in talking with schools about their needs and interests and developing the solutions that work in real classrooms.

Kern's background as a 7-12 science teacher with a low budget and no training (prior to his work at ESU) in engineering, robotics, or programming means that AAERO Ltd understands how hard it is to develop and manage successful Problem-Based-Learning activities.  Kern's grant work and classroom experience diving into these unknown waters has allowed him to collate many tools and resources about anything "Maker" to support educators in both formal and informal settings.  

Kern is one of the first Raspberry Pi Certified Educators in the state and partnered with his local library to start a weekly coding club to provide a unique opportunity that small-town kids are rarely given.