Spare Parts Author, Joshua Davis Speaks at WTIA Tech Author Series

On Thursday, January 22, the WTIA and Ada’s Bookstore hosted guest author Joshua Davis as part of the Tech Author series. Davis spoke about his recently released novel, Spare Parts, about four young men and their journey to, and following, the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition in 2004.

Joshua Davis began with some background about how he first got his journalistic start writing feature stories with topics ranging from sumo wrestling to education. His novel Spare Parts stemmed out of a story he had originally written for Wired magazine about four undocumented Mexican teenagers in Phoenix, AZ, and their lives leading up to and after a collegiate underwater robot competition.

The four high school teens were up against some incredible schools, including a fully sponsored team from MIT; but instead of having a poor attitude, Davis said, “they went into it with such enthusiasm, they thought ‘at least we’ll be losing to the best.’”

The book was recently turned into a film and debuted in theaters on January 16^th.But what the movie version of Spare Parts doesn’t show is what happens after the competition. “It is equally important to tell the after story.” Today, one is a janitor, one is a line cook, one is unemployed, and one is an engineer.

“That is not a good use of American talent,” said Davis.

The book further explores, discusses and questions the current talent gap and lack of racial diversity in the technology/STEM industries. The evening concluded with an author meet-and-greet and an opportunity for attendees to have their copies of the book signed.

Erin Ashley, Director of Corporate Relations at the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship (WSOS) started the evening by speaking about the financial support available for young people in the state pursuing STEM education majors in college. The deadline for 2015/2016 applications is fast approaching; learn more about the WSOS here. WSOS is a WTIA community partner because their work supports WTIA’s mission of increasing tech talent in Washington.

Thank you to everyone who attended, Ada’s Bookstore for hosting, and Joshua Davis for a wonderful event. The next WTIA event will be the Smart Gun Symposium on January 28^th, we hope to see our members there!