Engaging High School Students in Materials Science and Engineering

EMREL’s initiatives to engage high school students in the Long Island, NY region involve a new scalable and sustainable mechanism denoted Satellite Technology Outreach Centers (STOC).  Working with high school technology programs, STOC is established at each respective school district with a mission of providing students with enriched materials engineering design projects that integrate materials design with additive manufacturing.  The technology teach coordinates the effort locally in the respective district, and interacts with the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) at Stony Brook University through EMREL.  Because the centers act as a technology clubs, STOC will provide a sustainable mechanism for executing this program while simultaneously serve as a conduit for students to learn about the opportunities in Materials Science and Engineering at SBU.
STOC projects offer highly targeted research experiences in engineering laboratories at SBU that are integrated into a larger design project structured by the technology teachers.  This will foster an understanding of new advanced materials while also teaching students about engineering design and materials evaluation.  At the culmination of the projects, the high school students participate in Interactive Design or “IDesign” workshops at SBU to present their projects to undergraduates enrolled in Senior Design courses, which fosters: (1) an interactive environment to facilitate open discussion of the projects amongst peers and (2) opportunities for high school students to interface directly with undergraduates in engineering.  This program is in its inaugural stage with a Pilot STOC being established at Hauppauge High School.
To establish a STOC at your school district, please contact Prof. Trelewicz .

Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Students in Engineering

Through cooperation with campus and state-wide minority participation groups, the EMREL has on-going initiatives to make an immediate impact on broadening participation in engineering.  EMREL is collaborating with the NSF funded Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and the NY State funded Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP)  to provide new opportunities for minority students to gain exposure to engineering disciplines with an emphasis on “materials-by-design”.  A new engineering workshop series is being integrated into LSAMP/CSTEP designated Materials Matters Days, which represents a crucial area for these programs to reach students interested in the chemistry, physics, and engineering of materials.  The long-term vision is to expand these workshops to provide hands-on research opportunities where underrepresented students work in various laboratories with a team of faculty as part of an Interdisciplinary Research Circuit. 
For more information, please contact Jonathan Gentile.