UTPB engineering camp sparks interest

Jul. 1—Students from middle through high school had a chance to test their knowledge at engineering camps offered by University of Texas Permian Basin.

The ExxonMobil and UNITE/AEOP (Army Educational Outreach Program) engineering camps cover grades sixth through eight and nine through 12, respectively. Both were held at the UTPB Engineering Building.

The UNITE camp had 27 kids and the ExxonMobil edition had about 19 students. The UNITE camp offers students a total stipend of $400, Professor of Engineering George Nnanna said. It runs through July 12.

"This year is truly different. We have incorporated the industry into the experience," Nnanna said. "ExxonMobil gave a presentation. Honeywell gave a presentation. Last week, we took them to Terracon, which is a civil engineering company and also ConocoPhillips gave a presentation and brought their pumpjack and basically ... I showed them how it functions."

Along with practicing engineers, the camps also feature professors as instructors, so the campers have learned about wind turbines, produced water, geology, 3D printing and advanced manufacturing.

"This program is really helping in building the STEM pipeline that is required to generate the STEM workforce that will drive the economy of our region. Just by looking at his students and the way they are responding and their attention, the future looks bright, in my opinion, for STEM and for engineering as a whole," Nnanna said.

In this way, the students can see the relevance of what they're learning.

"What we have tried to do is to show them how mathematics and science are related to engineering. It's not just solving equations. It is actually how we apply those equations to build an engineering system and also to help society. Luckily, we do have some student workers also from engineering that are assisting professors. Two of them are in the lecture hall. One is Keren (Garcia) and the other one is TJ (Little)," Nnanna said.

This is Garcia's second year and Little's first to help with the camp. Garcia is studying mechanical engineering and Little is studying electrical.

"It's interesting how it all kind of connects with each other," Little said.

Garcia said she thinks it's a good thing that more young people are being encouraged to go into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

"I think the professors do a really good job of teaching them what basic engineering looks like and what it is and some basic things. ... It's just honestly an enjoyable time seeing these kids grow" to want to be engineers, Garcia said.

She added that they built robots one day and that made her realize she is going into the right field.

"One of the real emphasis of this is to demonstrate the application of mathematics and science to solve engineering problems and also to benefit society," Nnanna said.

He noted that at least one of the engineers that came out to talk to the kids studied mechanical engineering at UTPB. Nnanna said the students also got a tour of the labs in the engineering building. The camp simulates what they would see in the real world.

For example, if you have a certain amount of wind speed and you change the shape of the blades, it's going to affect the rotation of the shaft and it will also impact the amount of voltage being generated.

"Also we had gears so, depending on the gear ratio, you see that the amount of voltage is different ... We had them change the gear ratios and also see how that affects the brightness of the LED that is being generated," Nnanna said.

Evelyn Jones, who is going into 10th grade at STEM Academy, David Nnanna, who is going into ninth grade at Early College High School in Midland, and Ella Baumguardner, going into ninth grade at Odessa Collegiate Academy, were all enjoying the camp.

"I was in it last year and I found it fun," said Jones, who is 15.

She said the camp sometimes comes in handy and engineering is something she's interested in.

Nnanna, 13, who has also been to the engineering camps before, said he's really liked them. He wants to go into mechanical engineering when he gets older.

"I like the experiments ... and the hands-on learning. It's interesting," Nnanna said.

Baumguardner is attending camp for the first time and wants to become an architectural engineer.

"I think it's really cool because we're learning about things that you would never think happened," she said.

Lecturer/Lab Technician Narendra Boppana was leading a class of high school kids Monday.

"Most of the kids we get here, I think they're really good. They're smart. We just need to keep them engaged," Boppana said.

He said the students do well with experiments and teamwork. When they have questions, they raise their hands.

On Monday, they were assembling robots. They have also made pop rockets.

"Initially what we do is we talk about the basics. As an engineer, it's understanding the concept and applying it as well," Boppana said.