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<\/a>On September 2nd<\/sup>, 10 UConn engineering students kicked-off the new school year with science and technology classes at CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School<\/a> in East Hartford, CT.\u00a0 The UConn students are Engineering Ambassadors, members of an outreach program that presents engineering concepts to school age students in the form of interactive demonstrations.\u00a0 The Engineering Ambassadors program was started in fall 2009 with a $50,000 grant from United Technologies Corporation and aims to introduce K-12 students to engineering and problem solving and to foster an interest in the science and technology fields as a career.\u00a0 More information on the program as a whole can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\nFor the students at CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School, there are myriad benefits of a visit from the Engineering Ambassadors.\u00a0 The Ambassadors work with the students to complete a few labs that are tied into their science goals for the year and are all designed to present an example of engineering in an exciting and accessible way.\u00a0 Courtney Zuckerman, the science curriculum coordinator at the school, said the experiments \u201cprovide our students hands on opportunities in math and science.\u201d\u00a0 After completing the labs, the students are able to ask the Ambassadors about engineering and college in general.\u00a0 This part, Zuckerman said, was a highlight of the visit.\u00a0 \u201cOur students loved the opportunity to interact with college students. \u00a0The question and answer session at the end was a great way to demonstrate the importance of a college education to our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
The benefits of this program, however, are not limited to the students at the partner school.\u00a0 The greater UConn community reaps tremendous rewards from the success of the students at the surrounding schools.\u00a0 The program introduces these bright middle school students to the field of engineering, something they may not have been exposed to before.\u00a0 It also gives UConn the opportunity to make a positive first impression with these promising students.\u00a0 The development of middle and high school students who are talented in math and the sciences puts UConn at the forefront of the next generation of innovative engineers and builds relationships that will pay off for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/a>The 10 UConn students who visited the school included: Kayla Johnson (ME \u201913), Stephany Santos (BME \u201912), Ryan Darin (CSE \u201913), Andre Silva (ECE \u201912), Dave Golfin (CMBE \u201914), Milos Atz (CMBE \u201914); Rose Cersonsky (MSE \u201914), Aaron Eaddy (ECE \u201914), Monica Sawicki (MSE Ph.D. student), and Vincent Palumbo (MSE Ph.D. student).\u00a0 Out of the demonstrations they conducted with the students, an especially popular one was a civil engineering project called chocolate asphalt.\u00a0 This demonstration centered on the principles of concrete and pavement. \u00a0Using melted chocolate and nuts, they mixed different proportions of the two materials and saw how the strength of the resulting surface changed, just as varying quantities of asphalt and aggregate will create different grades of pavement.\u00a0 The activity showed the students how engineering was applicable in the real world and how the engineer\u2019s method of problem solving can be useful and exciting.<\/p>\n