9:41 a.m., Aug. 6, 2010----Now in its fifth year, the Engineering Cool Stuff Camp at the University of Delaware continues to welcome and engage the engineers of tomorrow through a program that combines hands-on experiments, youthful enthusiasm and teamwork.

THIS STORY

E-mail

Print

Twitter

During the Engineering Outreach-sponsored camp, which ran from July 12-16 and July 19-23, participants ages 12-16 used their math and science savvy and basic engineering principles to design and build everything from solar-powered lights to earthquake-resistant structures.

While the students seemed to enjoy all aspects of the camp, some popular activities included:

* Designing, building and racing solar cars and a solar electric system to power a light, with the help of students from the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program at UD;

* Designing, building and testing composite sandwich structures and composite beams, facilitated by members of the UD student chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE); and

* Designing, building and testing bridges and earthquake-proof towers, facilitated by structural engineering students led by Patrick Carson, a doctoral engineering student in the group led by Harry W. “Tripp” Shenton, professor and chairperson of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Composite beams measured

Students got to see how well their completed composite structures held up when subjected to pressure testing using equipment in the Composites Manufacturing Science Laboratory on UD's Newark campus.

Having designed the composite beams to be as light and effective per weight as possible, students explained why some of the structures fared better than others.

The Unbreakables were a credit to their team name with their winning combination of balsa wood, fiberglass, foam and aluminum. The team earned top bragging rights by building the sandwich structure with the best weight-to-strength ratio.

The team roster included Caesare Pineda of Salesianum School, Barry Moe from the Wilmington Charter School, Colleen Murray of the Immaculate Conception School in Elkton, Md., and Tre Jackson from Shue-Medill Middle School in Newark.

“We kept all the pieces in the shapes in which they were given to us,” Jackson said. “These elements were held together with resin glue. We tried to determine which combination was the lightest and strongest.”

Like his teammates, Jackson's favorite classes are math and science. Plans include attending Newark High School and possibly joining the Army.

For Pineda, who would like to go to MIT, the most interesting activity of the camp was working on a solar panel. “We had to use cords and wires to create a light,” he said.

Murray, who plans to attend Padua High School and pursue a teaching career, said, “The camp is fun, and we get to do a lot of different things.”

Moe, who would like to attend the University of Colorado, said, “The whole camp has been interesting. I like working with others, and having the winning entry was really exciting.” Moe was one of several students attending the camp for the second summer.

Learning about lifeboats

Campers also learned about the importance of proper lifeboat design and placement by studying how inadequate designs and lack of passenger lifeboat drills led to the loss of life during the sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago.

Displaying an astute knowledge of the Titanic's history, campers watched a YouTube video “Titanic Lifeboats,” which detailed the launching of lifeboats following the ship's collision with an iceberg at 11:40 p.m., on the night of April 14, 1912.

The ill-fated luxury liner carried only 20 lifeboats, each with a 65-person capacity, which meant that more than half of the ship's 2,200 passengers and crew went down when the Titanic sank just over two hours later.

The video also noted that only 18 lifeboats were launched, with many carrying less than the maximum number of possible passengers, while a few carried more than the rated limit.

Against this introductory background, students were given specific measurements to design, build and test lifeboats.

Camp still growing

“We've grown from a one-session camp of 20 kids in 2006, to having two sessions of 35 students each this year,” Kathy Werrell, assistant dean for Engineering Outreach Pre-college and Special Programs, said. “With the larger enrollment, we had to provide more activities, so we split the number of students in half each week, rotating them through the activities and giving everyone a chance at every activity while preserving that small-group, individualized attention feel that campers like.”

Camper comments, courtesy of Melissa A. Jurist, outreach coordinator in the College of Engineering, were universally positive. One camper “learned a lot about biofuels, composites and more,” and another said they were “always doing neat things.” One noted the camp was “way more fun than you would expect.”

One parent said, “My son could not stop talking about it. Please put us on the list for next year,” and another noted their child “came away inspired and excited every day. What a wonderful and invaluable experience they had.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson