Weeklong Program Gives High-schoolers a Chance to Experiment with Science Careers
07/28/2015
Contact: Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
* M E D I A A D V I S O R Y *
Friday, July 31, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
WHAT: Fifteen girls from a dozen communities around Massachusetts are spending this week at UMass Lowell trying their hand at engineering and learning about how it can make the world a better place.
At UMass Lowell’s “Engineering for Sustainability” camp, students are learning what that concept really means and how they can apply it in areas like renewable energy, recycling, water treatment and the reduction of toxic substances in business and everyday life.
Open only to female high-school students, the camp’s goals also include helping them explore engineering as a possible career. While women represent 47 percent of the nation’s total workforce, they make up less than a quarter of the workers in many engineering and science occupations, according to statistics from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Labor.
Students participating in the camp are from Andover, Bridgewater, Chelmsford, Groton, Lawrence, Lowell, North Andover, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Tyngsboro, West Boylston and West Newbury.
The camp, which runs through Friday, includes design-and-build team projects like an inexpensive water-purification system, an electricity-generating wind turbine, a system to generate energy from waste, a model home that uses solar power and environmentally friendly materials for use in cleaning. Daily “tech talks” with UMass Lowell faculty researchers from the Francis College of Engineering and other experts are featured, along with tours of locations around the community to see sustainability in action.
Representatives of UMass Lowell’s DifferenceMaker Program will teach the high-schoolers about entrepreneurship and how to develop and pitch ideas to solve business, community and other issues.
On Friday, student teams will compete for awards when they showcase their projects for peers, parents and faculty, and pitch them to a panel of judges.
WHERE: UMass Lowell Maker Space, Falmouth Hall, North Campus, University Ave., Lowell. Contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.