ALLIANCE, Ohio – Aspiring engineering students were on campus at the University of Mount Union for our second annual Experience Engineering Summer Program (EESP). Throughout the week, students conducted experiments in the lab and in the classroom with faculty members and Mount Union students lead by Dr. Chad Korach, director of the School of Engineering.

The EESP gives high school students and rising college freshman the opportunity to learn about five engineering disciplines, sustainability, applied mathematics, entrepreneurial mindset, ethics and communication skills in one week while gaining college credit.

“The students bond as a group and the experience goes beyond learning about the technical side of engineering and exposes students to the team aspect of the engineering profession,” said Korach.

Students participated in classes during the day and in the evenings had the opportunity for movie and pizza nights, sand volleyball, basketball, ping pong and frisbee. Experiments featured a variety of engineering disciplines throughout the week:

• Biomedical Engineering – Students used software to perform motion capture of themselves doing a water bottle challenge to track their biomechanics.
• Civil Engineering – Water park ride design and construction:  Wave pool design, Bucket drop design and Water slide design.
• 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 a smartphone.
• Mechanical Engineering – Rapid prototyping design project on ways to get children to take their vitamins and windmill design and construction tested for power output using a fan.
• Sustainability in Engineering – Explored about materials used in sustainable design and built passive solar house models.
• Engineering Ethics – Discussed the space shuttle challenger disaster and the lessons learned related to engineering ethics.
• Entrepreneurship – Learned about design thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset.
• Applied Math – Learned the principle of buoyancy and tested neutral buoyancy and had a float design project.
• Communications – Developed effective public speaking and practiced short speeches. 

To learn more about engineering at Mount Union or to learn more about next year’s camp, visit mountunion.edu/engineering or mountunion.edu/eesp.