On February 16, SHPE took a visit to the 1st graders of Columbus Academy, to once again demonstrate the importance of being an engineer, and to encourage curiosity and innovation in exploration and discovery. Stay tuned for our next visit to Christopher Columbus Academy!

On February 12, 2018 Luis, Alex D, Tony A., Gaby, and Doni visited Christopher Columbus Academy to teach middle schoolers about who engineers are and what they do. The team presented in both Spanish and English, showing giving a kids a peek into the lives of engineering students, and their field.

SHPE also demonstrated Makey Makey, an invention kit that allows young engineers to make keyboards and mice out of everyday objects. The students at Columbus Academy got to build these circuits themselves, using Play-Doh, and used the newly built devices to play Super Mario Bros.

SHPE is excited for the next meeting with Christopher Columbus Academy, where students will get a chance to play with Ooblek, and will learn more about what it means to be an engineer.

On April 7th, SHPE President Jason Santivanez (’18), Vice President Jhomar Fernandez Mayi (’17), Secretary Lara Huapaya (’19), Treasurer Tony Arreaga (’19), and Members Alexander Da Silva (’19) and Debbie Diaz (’20) Visited the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, a Capital Region Education Council School to participate in their STEAM theme day.

The group presented on their majors and, in line with the theme of the day, 21st century skills that they found important for succeeding in STEM fields. They also ran activities showing off developments in STEM.

This included a material science demo where liquid nitrogen was used to demonstrate a superconductor’s ability to levitate on a magnet, the change in material properties of a racquetball with respect to temperature was explored, and a delicious treat in the form of frozen marshmallows was a fitting reward to the enthusiastic kids.

A Makey-Makey board was used in another presentation to show how circuits work, and an assortment of video games like Super Mario and Pokémon were played as a team, using their hands, or play-dough in place of buttons.

SHPE looks forward to working with AAE again, and on doing similar events with other schools in the area.

EYF 2017 was by far the largest EYF to date, with over 200 8th grade boys coming to UCONN to participate in workshops run by SHPE, NSBE, and other engineering groups. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces as the participated in the workshops, and hearing the excited chatter as they finished their day showed the success of EYF 2017! After the kids left, the college students also gained a valuable experience by participating in a networking session with recent graduates and other professionals. All in all it was a rewarding day for all.

Ignite is the UConn Foundation fundraising events for different clubs and organizations that strive to better the UConn community. Diversity allows for different thoughts, creative problem solving and an inclusive future. This money will be used not only to support Bridge, but to support diversity programs that each club is involved with, like SHPE! We asked that you donate whatever you can and share this link with current students and alumni to make a difference for the future, diversity and the school of engineering.

Donate Now!

Engineering Your Future is a one day conference for 8th grade middle school boys aimed at exposing them to role models in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our goal is to host students from populations underrepresented in engineering in hopes of inspiring these students to consider STEM fields.
Engineering Your Future is on Wednesday April 20, 2016. Please register by March 27, 2016.

Register here