OU engineering students have heart
At OU engineering camp, high schoolers build heart monitors for overseas programs
NORMAN, Ok. – Over the summer, high school students from across Oklahoma and Texas traveled to the University of Oklahoma for Boeing Engineering Days, a summer program hosted by the Gallogly College of Engineering designed to whet the engineering appetites of high school juniors and seniors. Instead of sitting through a lecture or reading from a book, students were introduced to a variety of engineer disciplines by hearing from OU professors and current engineering students and participating in hands-on activities.
During the biomedical engineering session, participants built and tested heart monitors. They soldered components to a circuit board and then tested the monitors on themselves. The most accurate monitors will be sent to Engineering World Health organization which will distribute the monitors to countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa for training in biomedical programs.
“It was really cool being able to understand how something worked not only by reading about it, but by being a part of the process and creating it on your own,” said Ray Wood, who attends Clayton High School. “Knowing that what we created was going to be used as a tool for others made it much more fun to make and be a part of.”
The program, sponsored by Boeing, crossed five weekends in June and July, and each session focused on a different engineering field. Students learned basic concepts and then applied what they learned to a project that demonstrates how that specific engineering is applied outside a textbook.
“These workshops were designed to show future engineers how they can use their skills to create, build and improve the world,” said Rachel Childers, assistant professor in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering. “Engineering is more than just an equation, and we want students to see the direct results of their work, which can be something amazing and useful to others.”
_____________________________________________
The Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma challenges students to solve the world’s toughest problems through a powerful combination of education, entrepreneurship, research, community service and student competitions. Research is focused on both basic and applied topics of societal significance, including biomedical engineering, energy, engineering education, civil infrastructure, nanotechnology and weather technology. The programs within the college’s eight areas of study are consistently ranked in the top third of engineering programs in the United States. The college faculty has achieved research expenditures of more than $22 million and created 12 start-up companies.