Grant helps build interest in engineering careers
How many of us give much of a thought to engineering or what engineers do?
The miracle technology of cell phones, video games, computers, power plants, bridges and buildings affect our lives every day. But most of us don't know how things work or who actually builds them.
With part of a $500,000 grant from the E. Eugene Carter Foundation, Northern Illinois University and the West Aurora school district are enhancing the science education of middle school students with a weekly getWise Engineering Club program and follow-up summer camp at the university.
The Carter program is set to expand the pipeline of girls in NIU's engineering program by preparing middle school students to think of engineering as a career.
While the foundation's goal is to increase the number of female engineers, the program is open to all students, according to Dr. Gina Rahn.
Rahn, an engineering professor at NIU and getWise coordinator, will spend part of her mornings from January to May at Jewel, Herget, Jefferson and Washington middle schools helping club members learn, explore and have fun. And, she expects to get many of them interested in majoring in engineering in college.
I sat in on a group of 15 sixth- and seventh-grade boys and girls at Herget Middle School this week at an after-school meeting with the professor.
Rahn asked the students how many of them liked math and science, and only a couple of kids raised their hands.
She then asked the group how many of them think cell phones are cool and want to build one. All of the hands went up.
"The goal of this program is to expose you to what engineering is. This is where you will learn how things work and how you build stuff," the professor said.
Rahn went on to explain that everyone in the extracurricular class will meet once a week before school and take field trips with the group some Saturdays.
"We'll start off doing a cool project with cell phones as our first project and then take a tour of Motorola," she said. "We want you to do extra stuff that you wouldn't normally get in your regular science classes."
As another bonus, all students in the getWise program will have the first chance to get in the week-long getWise summer camp at Northern this summer. The camp is another element of the Carter grant. Students in the getWise program will get a special reduced rate for the camp.
The students were eager to sign up when Rahn said that the engineering campers will build a roller coaster and take a field trip to Great America.
"There's a lot of opportunity for you in science," Rahn told the group. "There are good jobs in engineering and we want to give you the chance to learn about it."
She said that 30 girls and six boys attended the NIU camp last year for seventh- through 11th-graders. The camp will have two sessions this summer -- one for middle school students and the other for high school students.