This week, more than 90 rising high school juniors and seniors are on campus for a one-week residential summer program, Engineering 2000 (E2K), which introduces them to engineering fundamentals and careers. The students hail from schools throughout the region, including New Jersey, Maine, New York and Massachusetts.
“We are very pleased with the 2007 E2K program. The students are very engaged, and our program of activities this year conveys both the excitement and complexity of engineering” said assistant dean for undergraduate education Marty Wood.
During the first day, student participants learned about engineering from a macro perspective and then broke into small working groups where they met with engineering faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to examine the different engineering disciplines and types of activities undertaken by practicing engineers in the workplace. As the week progresses, they will learn more about specific engineering disciplines and conduct experiments that demonstrate core engineering concepts.
On tap are discussions and hands-on projects meant to introduce the students to diverse engineering subjects, such as wastewater treatment processes, transportation planning for national parks, bioenergy production from waste, respiratory monitoring, thermal-fluids engineering, nanoscale imaging of materials using an electron microscope, fingerprint analysis, and searching algorithms for games. The week wraps up with demonstrations of items the students created during the week, among them rudimentary EKG devices, Smart Lego vehicles that can follow a trail, fuel cells and other energy efficient devices, wooden bridges, and environmental friendly processes.
Another facet of their educational experience is the opportunity to live on campus in a college dorm, sample dorm dining options and get around campus during the week. Four undergraduate engineering students are serving as mentors and chaperones. E2K participants are nominated by their high school math, science or technology teachers.
