Summer anything but 'down time'
| Published: 07/17/2007 |
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Commencement has commenced. Finals are finished. But summer is definitely not "down time" on the MSOE campus.
We'll welcome hundreds of people to campus for camps, summer-session classes and programs for high-school students to adults.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Summer Programs
MSOE's Summer Programs bring about 350 high school students from across the country to campus in July to learn more about business, engineering and nursing. They spend a week on campus looking at the options while staying on campus and getting a taste of college life (without the homework!).
Participants get involved in all kinds of interesting projects. Last summer, those in the computer engineering program built a dice-rolling machine while business students worked with software and business models used in corporate America daily. Would-be nurses had hands-on lab time, met kids of different ages during a pediatrics day, and got behind-the-scenes tours of local hospitals and other places where nurses work.
Students also take time out to get to know one another, whether it be on the lanes during a bowling night, watching outdoor movies and eating together in the cafeteria.
"It helped me figure out what I want to do. It showed me all the possibilities."
---Addy Hernick, Richfield, Minn.
Focus on the Possibilities - Biomedical Engineering
July 8-13 Discover the Possibilities
July 15-20 July 8-13 Discover the Possibilities
July 15-20 Focus on Business
July 15-20 Focus on Technical Communication
July 22-27 Focus on Nursing
July 22-27 Focus on the Possibilities
Upward Bound
Students from four Milwaukee high schools - Washington, South Division, Pulaski and King - are residing on campus for six weeks as part of the Upward Bound program. Students stay in the MSOE residence halls Sunday night through Friday, attending ACT preparation classes (math, laboratory science, English, reading) as well as Latin, engineering and technical courses. Students participate in recreational activities/field trips and visits to local businesses, points of interest and other college campuses. The summer program complements the academic year component of the program
MSOE's Upward Bound program was recently re-funded for five more years, which will take the program into its 32nd year on campus! Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program helps high school students successfully graduate and then pursue higher education, regardless of class, social, academic and cultural barriers.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
Lead the Way
Project Lead the Way brings engineering to middle and high schools
To help middle- and high-school students understand engineering, Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a national program, was introduced to Wisconsin three years ago and has taken off with 100 schools now offering PLTW pre-engineering courses - one of the highest numbers in the county! Held at MSOE every summer, the teacher training and curriculum development are key to success.
Bryan Kind, a teacher at Kettle Moraine High School, has been involved with PLTW since its inception and now trains other teachers to use the PLTW curriculum.
Center for BioMolecular Modeling
● June 18, 20, 22 - Tactile Learning Curriculum workshop
This academic year, eight Milwaukee area biology teachers were the first to incorporate Tactile Learning Curriculum modules -- 3D models and computer visualizations to teach about the molecular world - into their classrooms. They'll meet to discuss and suggest ways to modify and extend the lessons.
Seventy high school biology and chemistry teachers from across the country will come to MSOE's Center for BioMolecular Modeling to learn how to get their students even more excited about the molecular world. They're all supported by a grant through the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources' Science Education Partnership Award.
● July 9-14 - Genes, Schemes and Molecular Machines
Teachers learn how to help make the abstract world of molecular biology tangible to their students through computer visualization tools and 3D physical models made only at MSOE.
● July 16-21 - Modeling the Molecular World
Teachers use the computer program RasMol to design protein model that is then built using rapid prototyping technology. They'll focus on proteins involved in transport across the cell membrane, such as ion channels or resistance in the environment, such as antibiotics or insecticides.
● July 30-Aug. 4 - SMART Team Molecular Stories (new)
Teachers investigate what a protein does and how it functions within a cell or organism, particularly those of interest to researchers now such as hemagglutinin and avian flu. The Center will then create physical 3D models and instructional materials to share with other teachers across the country through the Center's extensive Model Lending Library.
COLLEGE STUDENTS
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
College students love new research experiences during the summer - especially those they can't explore at their home college. Nine undergrads from across the country will come to MSOE June 4-Aug. 11 to investigate two of our specialties - rapid prototyping and fluid power technologies.
The students work in the Rapid Prototyping Center, the only university laboratory in the country with all five commercially available rapid prototyping systems, and in the Fluid Power Institute TM, a pioneer in motion control and fluid power education.
They hail from the following schools: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.), Baylor University (Waco, Texas); Louisiana Technical University (Ruston, La.), MSOE, Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.), St. Mary's of College of California (Moraga, Calif.) and Universidad del Turabo (Gurabo, Puerto Rico).
REU is funded by the National Science Foundation through grants for REU and the Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power.
COLLEGE EDUCATORS
Center for BioMolecular Modeling
● June 6-8 - Proteins in Active Learning Modules (PALM) workshop
This is Center for BioMolecular Modeling's first foray into helping undergraduate educators make the molecular world more understandable for their students and help improve college curricula. Thirty undergraduate educators and outreach coordinators from California to Canada will participate in activities developed by the Center (narrated Jmol tutorials, animations, illustrations, bioinformatics exercises) and use the 3D models built using rapid prototyping. During the upcoming academic year, participants will incorporate the materials into their classrooms, providing feedback and assessment data.
It is funded through a National Science Foundation-Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement grant. The Center's Dr. Tim Herman (PI) and Dr. Margaret Franzen are teaming with David Goodsell (The Scripps Research Institute), David Nelson (UW-Madison) and Bill Sofer (Rutgers University) for this unique project.