Engineering Enthusiasm

University at Albany University at Albany Headlines

Engineering Enthusiasm 










































ALBANY, N.Y. (April 17, 2017) – Betty Lise Anderson of The Ohio State University and a team of College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) faculty brought a hands-on engineering project to students at Hackett Middle School recently.
At Ohio State, Anderson is professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is also program director for K-12 Engineering Outreach. In that capacity, she and her students have reached more than 100 schools and over 18,000 students, developing 20 different kid-friendly engineering projects.
Here at UAlbany, founding CEAS Dean Kim L. Boyer is piloting a similar initiative with the Albany City School system. Research indicates that 6th grade is the “sweet spot” for igniting interest in engineering.
“Projections indicate a large disparity between future demand for engineers and the estimated number of people who will be qualified to fill those jobs,” Boyer said. “By bringing tangible projects that introduce students to engineering principles, we challenge already inquisitive children to think like inventors and problem-solvers.”
As part of the University’s planned initiative to introduce STEM fields to local schools, Anderson spent the morning of April 5 leading UAlbany CEAS faculty in building speakers made out of paper and a DC motor, so that they could show a 6th grade science class at Hackett Middle School how to build their own paper speakers that afternoon.
Participating faculty included: Hany Elgala, Daphney-Stavroula Zois, Dola Saha and Weifu Wang, all of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and George Berg and Feng Chen of the Department of Computer Science.
Participating staff members included Ronnie Rowe of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Daphne Jorgensen and Angela St. John of the CEAS Dean’s office.
“The speaker illustrates the application of science (electromagnetics) to building something useful, which is what engineering does,” Anderson said.
Music is represented by an oscillating current, such as a cell phone can produce. When the ...

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