ALLIANCE, Ohio – Aspiring engineering students were on campus at the University of Mount Union for the inaugural Experience Engineering Summer Program (EESP.)

Throughout the week students conducted experiments in the lab and in the classroom with faculty members lead by program director, Dr. Chad Korach, interim chair of the Department of Engineering and expert in mechanical systems, manufacturing, and advanced materials. The classes were all taught by participating Mount Union faculty, Drs. Hans Tritico, Shehla Arif, Dr. Okey Ugweje, and Dr. Josh Gargac (Engineering), and Profs. Meredith Glick (Communication) and Michal Kachilla (EABA).

The EESP is designed to be a hands-on project-based learning environment that exposes the students to a variety of engineering disciplines and skill sets. Students who want to be exposed to new engineering projects, are still exploring which engineering discipline they are interested in, or wondering if engineering is for them, will all find a place in the program. “Providing students with an exposure to engineering as high school students helps prepare them for their future academic career and helps to encourage more students to become involved in STEM disciplines” said Korach. For more information on the summer program, visit mountunion.edu/eesp.

Experiments featured a variety of engineering disciplines throughout the week:

• Mechanical Engineering – Windmill design and construction tested for power output using a wind tunnel.
• Computer Engineering – Built a radar tracking system using an Arduino microprocessor.
• Electrical Engineering – Built a sound amplifier which included an LED display of the sound amplitude from your smartphone.
• Environmental Engineering – Visited the Huston-Brumbaugh Nature Center and took measurements of carbon from a plant.
• Civil Engineering – Water park ride design and construction:  Wave pool design, Bucket drop design, and Water slide design.
• Entrepreneurship – Learned about Design Thinking and applied the Business Model Canvas to a water park.
• Applied Math – Learned about buoyancy and had a Float design competition.
• Communications – Learned about effective public speaking.
• Biomedical Engineering – Used software to perform motion capture of themselves to track their biomechanics.