ATTRACTING YOUNG MINDS TO ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY FIELDS WITH MOBILE RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION

Various ways to attract young minds to STEM fields have been implemented by non-profit organizations and institutions through volunteer work or funding.Mobile Renewable Energy Education (MREE) is a long term project aimed to provide area (especially rural) K-12 students and teachers with an applied mathematics, engineering and science curriculum package based on Photovoltaic (PV), wind power, energy conversion and conservation, energy safety and awareness, human power, and global warming.The MREE project has established a partnership between the university and selected area schools to improve students' mathematical and scientific skill sets and to improve their technological literacy by creating an environment where they must understand and figure out relationships in basic mathematics, science, and engineering technology.The students can then apply their new-found skills to study renewable energy fields, to mentor others and manage their studies effectively, and to gain a professional skill-set for successfully applying mathematics and science to technical projects with diverse teams throughout their careers.The use of a number of renewable energy and energy efficiency based hands-on projects such as a nationwide solar electric project promotes mathematics and science for teachers and students.In this paper, all the information about the successful mobile outreach program will be shared with academia including data, feedback, description of materials used, demographics, funding, results etc.