Innovative Partnership for Educating Colorado’s Aerospace & Bioscience Workforce

Organization: University of Denver

Grant Round: Jumpstart

Program’s Objectives: The program combines teacher training, summer camp, and high school classes to develop engineering skills relevant to aerospace engineering and bioengineering. The Making of an Engineer summer camp (residential) uses the theme of Engineering in Extreme Sports to introduce participants to engineering concepts common to both aerospace engineering and bioengineering, such as material science and robotics.

Individuals Served: To date we have served approximately 441 people in the capacity of high school teacher training to middle/high school student development in STEM skills. The number served will continue to grow.

Success Story: “One of the campers, Jennifer Rystrom, had expressed to me early on in the camp that the only reason she was there was that her parents had insisted that she participate. All of her friends made fun of her for going to a “geek” camp. I recall how excited she was when she and her partner, Cameron, finished their robot.  When school started, she endured a long wait to change her schedule so that she could now take Chemistry from Roger. Last week, she approached him to ask if he would sponsor an Engineering Club at the school.  She had already asked the administration if it could be done, and had been told to line up other interested students and find a sponsor. At Back-to-School-Night this past week, Jenni dragged her mother in to meet Roger where she revealed that the camp was the best experience she had ever had. When he suggested to her that it must have been gratifying to tackle a challenge you think is outside of your realm of ability and find that you actually CAN do it, she replied eagerly, “That’s EXACTLY it!”
-- Corinne Lengsfeld, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Denver

Quote: "From pre and post testing, we have found that the summer camp version of our WIRED program takes students retained knowledge of engineering from 37% on average to 81% on average."
-- Corinne Lengsfeld, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Denver

Collaborators: Excel Energy, Lockheed Martin Castle View High School, Montebello High School, Denver School of Science and Technology, and Gold Crown Foundation.