Engineering Egypt - Applied Science & Engineering Workshop for Middle School Girls

SWE
Engineering Egypt
in the Year 2000
13 May 2000
City Water Department
Training Facility

Preliminaries - Meanwhile back at SWE:
SWE - San Diego had received a $10,000 grant from Solar Turbines to initiate the Industrial Outreach Partnership (IOP) program.

Planning - Determining the details:
After several SWE Brainstorming sessions we came up with "Engineering Egypt". Hypatia was selected as our mascot. It took quite a bit of searching but we found the perfect venue in our City Water Department's Training Facility. Saturday, May 13 was selected for a date. We would structure the event similarly to the BEWiSE programs by requiring interested girls to write an essay and then providing them with a day of fun, educational workshops. We would also provide breakfast and lunch. And, of course, we would have a T-shirt.

Finalizing - Firming-up the schedule:

* Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karen May-Newman (SDSU/SWE) would address the students as Hypatia, the first female mathematician.

* Workshop Speakers would be:

Nancy DeWees (SWE, Civil Engineer) and Athalean Gee (Girl Power, Educator) presenting a Hydrological Engineering workshop showing students how engineers work with water by measuring flow with a flow meter and calculating the filling time of nearby Lake Murray, a reservoir.
Marie Sherwood (SDSU student) and Caryn Hoffman (Girl Power, Educator) presenting an Engineering Project Management workshop using a computer program to manage a pyramid construction project.
Laura Meldrum (SWE, Software Engineer) showing students how to use Applied Math to design and make a pyramid. Click here for more info on this workshop.
Lisa Duvall (USD student) showing students how to use Applied Physics by demonstrating how to reduce friction on sliding blocks.
And, Dr. Newman presenting a Mechanical Engineering workshop on using a lever for mechanical advantage.

The kids were given "lab notebooks" to make notes in and to place the Egyptian themed stickers which we gave them at each workshop.

Also: Nametags were made. Students all went home with folders full of info, leveler/measuring tapes, and calculators.

Web site: http://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/~kmn/engegypt.html

Photos:

Feedback:
Our survey responses indicated that:

All participants had a terrific time, with students rating the program a 9.4 on a scale of 10. More than 75% (38/50) thought that a career in engineering, math, or science was a possibility for them, and 100% said they would recommend the program to a friend. Why? "Because it is fun and you learn a lot" was the most common response. What better success could we have hoped for!?

This really became an all-section event with many members contributing as much as they could.

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SWE Engineering Egypt in the Year 2000 13 May 2000 City Water Department Training Facility

SWE
Engineering Egypt
in the Year 2000
13 May 2000
City Water Department
Training Facility