The Center for Career Development congratulates the following student groups who received funding from Samantha Stapleton with ExxonMobil through their program to recognize the outstanding work and achievements of engineering student groups across the country. A total of a little over $5,000 was awarded to the groups at a reception held at the Center for Career Development on February 15, 2016. Summaries of the submitted projects/proposals that received funding at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are below as submitted by the officers.

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American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge Competitions

The highlight of the chapter’s involvement is attending the Southeastern Regional Conference for the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge Competitions. Last year, the student chapter placed fourth overall out of twenty-six competing universities. The chapter, consisting of an average of fifty to fifty-five members, is looking to improve upon that mark this year and place top three overall. The concrete canoe competition requires students to design and construct a canoe out of concrete with enough strength to withstand up to four paddlers at a time. The judging for this competition is based on several aspects of the canoe including the design and presentation but also races. The steel bridge competition requires students to design and fabricate a twenty foot long bridge capable of withstanding 2500 pounds. A competitive bridge must be lightweight, strong, and easily assembled. The steel bridge and concrete canoe competitions teach students real world engineering skills by simulating the full project cycle from inception to design and construction before reaching completion. Research of materials and design outlines are an important step to a well-crafted final product.

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American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Hex-copter Drone Project for STEM Outreach

The goal is to design and build a hex-copter drone to be taken to middle and high schools around the Knoxville area to promote engineering to younger students through an exciting and engaging demonstration. The hex-copter is a great teaching tool as it shows both electrical and mechanical components working together to create a powerful system. They currently partner with the Graduate Association of Mechanical Engineers (GAME) who have been reaching out to local middle and high schools for several years with great success, using a curriculum for teaching various engineering concepts. The project not only benefits middle and high school students, but also younger students in the organization. This project will be used to train incoming freshmen in the fundamentals of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and controller software design.

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Graduate Association of MABE Engineers (GAME)

TEM Outreach Program to Middle & High School Students

Through previous funding from ASME and the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, GAME has developed a thriving science outreach program. The program carries out enriching demonstrations directly related to the Tennessee state curriculum that are outside the capabilities of standard classrooms for local area schools and organizations. They have visited twenty-two classrooms with over 500 students and provided over 100 in-class volunteer hours to date. They are requesting support to create a new propulsion module. They will use demonstrations to expose students to the concept of thrust and various modes of propulsion.

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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Robotics Team

The IEEE Robotics Team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a student-led team that develops autonomous robots for use at collegiate robotic competitions. The team regularly finishes in the top 25% of the field of more than fifty teams and even won second place overall in 2009. Participation in the UT robotics team provides real world experience in engineering research, design, construction, and leadership as well as project management. The robotics team works together with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, IEEE chapter to promote awareness and interest in robotics to UT’s large engineering student population as well as outreach to high school students considering engineering. Demonstrations of previous year’s robots are given multiple times throughout the year at events such as Engineer’s Day. This year, the IEEE robotics teams will also teach tutorial sessions on popular robotics tools such as Raspberry Pi and 3D printing.

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National Society of Black Engineers (SBE)

Mini-SEEK

The aim of the Mini-SEEK event is to stimulate enthusiasm and encourage greater participation in STEM for elementary aged students. This event is based off of NSBE’s national Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) program. SEEK is a free three-week summer program offered to students who are current third through fifth graders or current sixth through eighth graders. NSBE’s SEEK camps have increased students’ knowledge of STEM fields and have provided students with positive mentors who are actively pursuing STEM degrees. Since SEEK is not available in the state of Tennessee, NSBE-UTK has put together a one day, project based program in order to introduce and promote the engineering fields. Students will be introduced to different engineering fields offered at UT through interactive games, activities, and peer mentorship. This event targets all local elementary and early middle school aged children with a focus on minority students who are not regularly exposed to a STEM curriculum.

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Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

Freshmen Day

Freshmen Day was established by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) with the purpose to introduce freshmen to upperclassmen, provide them advice on how to make the best of their freshmen year, and assist with any questions or concerns they have. Freshmen Day is an annual outreach event hosted for students to learn about the strong support system provided by the society, especially encouraging female engineering students to attend. In the past, freshmen paid a fee to attend this event and a small number of students participated. With the financial assistance of ExxonMobil last year, they had the most successful Freshmen Day in the history of the event. Over 120 freshmen attended their event. They hope to make the 2016 Freshmen Day even bigger to assist the retention efforts for females in the Tickle College of Engineering.

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For more information, contact April Gonzalez (Engineering Consultant) at agonza16@utk.edu, Kertesha Riley (STEM Consultant) at kriley6@utk.edu; or call (865) 974-5435. Check out Center for Career Development & Academic Exploration for a complete list of all upcoming