Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of the Society for Science and Executive Publisher of Science News, chatted with Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, Founder and CEO of Instrumental, a company that helps other companies optimize their manufacturing process. Shedletsky is an alumna of the 2004 Science Talent Search (STS) and the 2003 and 2004 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), both programs of Society for Science.
How did STS and ISEF influence you?
In high school, I signed up for an independent science research class that met after school. I had a great teacher, who taught me a lot about science research. As an adult looking back, he taught me a lot about life too. I started competing with my work and learned I loved competition. ISEF and STS were part of that journey. It was through these experiences that I learned how to fail and to keep going anyway until I achieved success. I also found I liked taking a problem with no solution and inventing one. My research teacher taught me how to break a large problem down into small pieces. My project involved creating a computer model to investigate how contagious diseases spread. I simulated different parameters of populations and diseases to identify new ways to combat pandemics.
What impact did competing have on your career trajectory from engineer to entrepreneur to executive?
I started developing an incredibly important skill while doing science fairs: pitching and defending my work. Looking back, my entire career has involved pitching and defending my work. As an engineer at Apple, I had to justify and pitch what I was designing to people who had more experience and power than me. As an entrepreneur, I pitch our ideas to investors, pitch our vision to candidates so they want to work for us and pitch our products to prospective customers. Learning to build persuasive arguments about the merits of your work is important in business. And I got lots of practice in high school with science fairs.
After graduating from Stanford with your undergraduate and Master’s degrees in 2009, you worked as a product design engineer at Apple. What was your experience developing landmark products such as iPods and the first Apple Watch?
Apple was an amazing place to grow up as an engineer. I was responsible for what I describe as “packing the suitcase.” We received a shell for a new product and then it was our job to design and to fit all the parts inside. We also designed the assembly line process.
Apple product design engineers manage both design and process. We would travel to factories in Asia to see the ramifications of our design choices on the line. Sometimes our first ideas were not great, so we would iterate on them. Apple valued the customer’s experience, so spending a bit more money to make a much better product was encouraged. We used the scientific method to experiment with different technologies, materials or designs to see which ones would give us the best ultimate performance or results. I loved it.
What inspired you to found Instrumental?
At Instrumental, we make software that enables engineers to find and fix issues on their manufacturing lines. We work on consumer electronics, AI infrastructure such as servers and power systems, and defense electronics.
As an engineer at Apple, I learned that shipping a new product often came down to a lot of heroism. It became clear that individual engineers were making diving saves to ensure products were released on schedule. You can’t patch hardware. It must be good going out the door. Apple is excellent at execution. They have figured out how to engineer a process and develop a team of people who can do those diving saves at the right time to get the product across the line.
That kind of heroism relies on luck, which isn’t a strategy. It seemed like there was an opportunity to build something where we didn’t have to rely on luck and instead, leverage data and smart algorithms to find the problems earlier.
You’ve described manufacturing waste as an $8 trillion global problem. How can organizations and society at large solve such a daunting challenge?
Eight trillion dollars is probably an underestimate. The waste comes from inefficiencies in our ability to find and solve manufacturing problems. Instrumental is focused on electronics, but manufacturing is half of the gross world product. Identifying the problems that cause these inefficiencies early makes them much cheaper and easier to fix. Here is an example: It’s very common for an electronics assembly line to run at a 95 percent yield. For every 100 units, five can’t ship. Those five are called fallout, which usually becomes waste. Now think about the hundreds of parts that go into your laptop or phone — each one has an upstream supplier that has fallout too. Identifying the problems that cause the fallout is the first step to eliminating them. Eliminating the fallout eliminates the waste.
Are you using AI at Instrumental?
The core of what we do is what is now known as AI. When I started the company 10 years ago, we couldn’t call it AI because people didn’t believe AI could work in the real world. Our AI identifies problems and inefficiencies.
Throughout your career, you’ve been very passionate about advancing gender equity in STEM fields. For example, you founded the Women in STEM mentorship program. How would you describe the importance of that work?
Although I experienced something close to gender parity in my mechanical engineering major at Stanford University, when I was interviewing for a job, I was surprised to find there were companies that had never even hired a female engineer. When I landed at Apple, there were two women in my group of 70 who reported up to the VP. It wasn’t until a few years into my job that I started wondering why there were only two of us.
I’ll tell you a story: When we started working on the Apple Watch, the team bought all the smartwatches on the market, and they all looked ridiculous on my fifth-percentile female wrist. I’m not saying that I am responsible for the fact that Apple has a small- and large-size watch, but I am saying that there is value in having a diversity of perspectives (and bodies) around when designing new products.
At Apple, I did not have female executive role models providing examples of how authentic female leaders should behave — which meant I had to stumble forward on my own. I believe it’s important to help young women who are entering the industry find mentors and role models they can learn from.
What advice do you have for young people just starting out in higher education?
Start with the mind-set of learning and exploring. Soak everything in, even stuff you didn’t expect. Take that archaeology or dance class. You never know where you might learn something that could change what you do next.
As a member of the Society for Science’s National Leadership Council, you’re working to establish the inaugural Alumni Special Award Committee, which will fund, judge and award a finalist at Regeneron ISEF 2025. What’s your vision for such a committee and why do it?
Two reasons. First, I’ve judged at ISEF for a decade and it’s an incredibly rewarding experience. I leave every year feeling like humanity’s going to be OK because of just how inspiring all the student finalists are. I wanted to create an opportunity for more alumni to have that experience. That’s the altruistic reason. The second reason is to remind alumni that Society for Science has value and needs to exist in this world. Once you go through these programs, it can be easy to move on and not think about the Society again. But the Society needs you to remember it and to support it to ensure it can thrive for the next 100 years.