From electronics, to engineering, to sculpture
How a lifelong gadget guy came around to the liberal arts.
Eric Sundberg
Richmond, Virginia
Founder, RVAstem.com (2013) · Curator, Graylinks.com · Builder of things
Electronics
For 45 years I ran an electronics repair and telecom business here in Richmond — car radios, dashboards and speedometers, business phone systems. I launched my first website in 1996, about car radios, back when most businesses didn't know what a website was. I sold the business in 2024.
That kind of work teaches you to respect how things work, to troubleshoot patiently, and to never trust a part you haven't tested.
Engineering
Retirement didn't stop the tinkering. I've designed a custom CNC gantry, spent years experimenting with Arduino, ESP32 and lidar, and I still restore 1970s radios and vacuum-tube audio gear. In 2013 I founded RVAstem.com, a 501(c)(3) directory to help Richmond families find STEM education — because I wanted kids to have the same spark I did.
Sculpture
Lately, the work that moves me most is sculpture: stone, driftwood pulled from the James River, neon, and woodworking. I also spend a lot of time photographing the deer, foxes and raptors along the river.
Nobody needs a driftwood sculpture. That's the point. Making it is slow, physical, and completely human — and showing it to someone and hearing what they see in it is the best part.
Why I'm writing this now
Since 2023 I've collected thousands of videos and articles on artificial intelligence for Graylinks.com. Watching these tools learn to write code, solve math problems and produce engineering drawings, I came to a conclusion that surprised me: the skills I spent a decade promoting are exactly the ones machines are getting good at.
What they can't do is sit across a table from you. They can't sing harmony with you, teach a grandchild to waltz, stand up at a town meeting, or remember what your family went through. Those human things — the "forgotten" liberal arts — are about to become the most important things we teach.
I'm not giving up electronics, engineering or sculpture. I'll keep pursuing all three. And STEM isn't truly dead — we'll always need people who understand the machines. But for the next twenty years, I believe our emphasis has to move toward human interaction and the liberal arts.
How this site works
This is a personal site, built by hand (with AI assistance for drafting and research — I'd be a hypocrite to pretend otherwise). Program descriptions link to the official sources; dates, prices and eligibility change every year, so always check the program's own site. Some class and shop links are affiliate links that help pay for the site — details here.
See something wrong, or know a program that belongs here? I'd like to hear about it.