Engineering Outreach: A Summer Program Approach

Three summer programs were created in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas to increase interest in STEM-related fields among rising 6 th -12 th grade students.Explore Engineering Program 1 (EEP1) and Explore Engineering Program 2 (EEP2) were developed as five-day, daytime-only programs for rising 6 th and 7 th grade (EEP1) and 8 th and 9 th grade (EEP2) students to develop interest in STEM concepts and engineering as a profession through interactive hands-on learning.The Engineering Summer Academy (ESA) was designed to attract rising 10 th -12 th grade students to programs in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Arkansas through hands-on departmental programs in a week-long residency program.In 2010 (the first year of the programs), 68 students attended and, in 2011, 135 students applied.Several measurable results were obtained from the three summer programs which demonstrate growth, interest and early success.Perhaps most notable, 25 of the 28 high school senior ESA attendees (89%) in 2010 applied for admission to the U of A in 2011.Fourteen of these 25 new U of A students received academic scholarships from the U of A.