College of Engineering Ends Busy Season of Programs with Engineering Summer Academy

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Students in the Engineering Summer Academy work on a Texas Instruments calculator to program a rover.

The College of Engineering has wrapped up another year of its annual summer programs, which offer students a variety of hands-on experiences and knowledge to introduce them to the world of engineering.

The college has held summer camps for K-12 students since 2007, when it started with 60 students in two camps. In 2023, over 400 students were served between 18 camps hosted in various parts of Arkansas. In addition to the University of Arkansas location in Fayetteville, students attended camps in Batesville, Blytheville, Camden, Harrison, Mena, Morrilton and Newport.

Camps director Teresa Simpson said she loves to see the positive impact on participants, and said students leave with more independence and a stronger ability to persevere.

"It is important for the university that the College of Engineering hosts these programs as it introduces participants to the U of A as young as first grade," Simpson said. "As we continue to see participants return year after year, their connection to the university and the College of Engineering grows deeper."

Scenes from the 2023 College of Engineering summer camps.

The camps are led by faculty and undergraduate student ambassadors through the College of Engineering. Each camp has a specific theme, and the staff diligently plans engineering-based hands-on experiments and projects that expand students' knowledge while letting them have fun.

One camp offered this summer, the Engineering Summer Academy, is a weeklong, residential camp catering to 10th through 12th graders. Students get a small taste of college life while living in the dorms, eating at the dining halls, and learning from College of Engineering faculty.  There are four different sessions included in the program: ChemE, Living Systems, Non-Living Systems and Machine Learning.

The Machine Learning section utilized a T.I. Rovers simulation, where students worked inside a large computer lab to program a Texas Instruments calculator that was attached to a rover. Students were challenged to program the rover to follow a path with no manual intervention.

Students used Python, a computer programming language for building software, automating tasks, and conducting data analysis, to program their calculators and rovers. The students worked in pairs and were spread around the room as they worked through the challenge.

Students' assignment was to program the rover to move toward two different lines of color, green and blue, directing it to stop after crossing the green line.

The 26 students worked carefully on programming the calculators and their rovers, and anxiously awaited testing approval from electrical engineering faculty member Robert Saunders. One group of partners cheered with excitement when their rover successfully recognized the green strip on the ground and stopped moving.

Some of the leaders and students shared what they have been learning through the camp. Student ambassador Diana Trujillo Rogel is a sophomore mechanical engineering major. She said experiences like the rover session help students make the best career choice for themselves.

"As a kid, I didn't get any exposure to engineering like these camps offer," Rogel said. "It's beneficial for them to have more hands-on opportunities while also giving the high schoolers opportunities to experience college life by staying in the dorms and working with students like us."

Jules Alharbi, a 16-year-old Fayetteville High School sophomore, said the camp has opened her eyes more to engineering and ignited a new interest in her.

"I didn't want to do engineering at first — I wanted to try it out," she said. "Being in this camp has made me learn some really cool ideas, and it is fun trying new things."

Thanks to the major funding support from sponsors, many students can attend engineering summer programs at no cost. Major sponsors include Phillips 66, the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center, U of A's Women Giving Circle, and Lockheed Martin.

The Engineering Summer Academy ends the College of Engineering's summer programs each year. Simpson has already started planning for Summer 2024, and camp applications will open Jan. 1 for next summer. More information can be found at engineering-camps.uark.edu.