May 21 – The University of Texas Permian Basin will host two engineering camps this summer – UNITE and ExxonMobil.
UNITE camp takes place from June 17th to July 12th, on the first floor of the Engineering Building. The hours are from 8 am to 3 pm
UNITE is a four-week pre-collegiate summer experience for talented high school students hosted by the University of Texas Permian Basin College of Engineering.
It encourages students to pursue college courses and careers in fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through a program of rigorous, practical and focused academic studies, enrichment and career exploration.
George Nnanna, professor of mechanical engineering, said the other camp is partially funded by ExxonMobil and lasts two weeks. It will focus on students in grades six through eight the first week and grades nine through 11 in the second week.
“They have similar goals in the sense that the main goal is to expose students to various aspects of the engineering discipline,” Nnanna said. “They can also explore the fundamentals of engineering, allowing them to engage in practical applications of engineering, so this will be a hands-on experience. It also provides an opportunity for students to interact with engineering students and faculty.”
Most classes will be taught by teachers.
“As a result of this, it will improve students’ analytical skills, providing them with skills that they can carry throughout their lives and also motivate them to investigate career paths that they can choose,” he added.
This will help students decide if engineering is for them.
“By participating in this program and learning how math and physics are connected to engineering, it will allow them to decide if STEM is the appropriate discipline for them. What we’ve done is expand this program beyond engineering. We’re bringing in biological sciences teachers, geological sciences, engineering as well as mathematics so they can see the relationships between science and engineering,” said Nnanna.
One of the unique features this year is that they are bringing in industry representatives to talk to the campers.
“In fact, ExxonMobil has committed to making a presentation. ProPetro has also committed. Terracon has also committed,” he said.
Students will see how they start with theory in the classroom, take it to practice in the lab, and how that translates into industry experience.
“I think it’s great exposure and a much-needed program here in the Midland-Odessa community,” Nnanna said.
For the UNITE camp, he expects 20 students and for the ExxonMobil camp, about 35.
Camp UNITE specifically targets veteran students and students who are under-resourced and underrepresented in STEM disciplines and women.
“It is important to note that due to the quality of our program, out of perhaps 40 institutions administering the program, we were selected last year as one of four institutions in the country to be featured in the IMA Educational Opportunities Program Block (Instructional Materials and Technology Allocation). This is a testament to the quality of the program we are offering students,” Nnanna said.
“The other thing is for UNITE, not only are we offering this learning opportunity, the Army is paying participating students a scholarship of $100 per week. So for the four weeks, that means they have the opportunity to earn US$400, plus the engineering studies and scientific experience that they will receive from us. It’s a really great opportunity and also to be able to participate in an industry field trip,” he added.
There will also be field trips for students.
He said they started this program in 2019 and it has been running continuously since then.
“Each year we had up to 50 students. During COVID, we had a smaller number, about 20 students. So in total, I believe this program benefited at least 300 students,” Nnanna said.
He added that they welcome students from Odessa, Midland and Monahans.
They had students from Andrews.
The camp was held virtually during COVID, which gave students from Chicago and Austin a chance to participate.
During this time, they sent engineering kits to people’s homes and then connected virtually with the students to provide instructions on how they could build the engineering experiment, conduct the test, and write the report.
At the end of the program, they sent the kits back to UTPB.
“It was a little more expensive because we also have to bear the costs of transporting and delivering the kits. But this was a way to involve a larger audience,” said Nnanna.
This year, the camp will focus on reactors and chemical engineering simulations.
“We’re also going to do mechanical engineering, looking at engines. We’re also going to focus on solar energy, as well as wind energy. In the biological sciences, they’re going to do a series of experiments related to bioengineering and geology, (they’re going to) focus on the relationship between geology and hydraulic fracturing,” said Nnanna.
“We will also be looking at water technology; how water can be treated for beneficial reuse. Students will also be involved in the use of advanced equipment such as scanning electron microscopy. We will teach how it works. How we can characterize solids and know the chemistry of this material using the scanning electron microscope will be a really great opportunity for students,” he added.
This will all be tied to someone in the industry giving a presentation. This could be a practicing engineer talking about day-to-day activities in the industry, so students can see how these projects they do at camp relate to practical engineering in the field.
At the beginning of each session, a theory will be provided so that students can gain an understanding of physics and mathematics.
“Later in this session, we’re going to take them to the lab. They’re going to work with the students as well as the faculty members so they can perform an experiment, and then the faculty will walk them through analyzing that data so that may be able to give a presentation on the lessons learned themselves,” said Nnanna.
They will have a built-in break at around 11:30am each day to allow students the opportunity to interact with each other and network.
Nnanna said he expects about nine teachers and anticipates hiring four engineering students for the program.
You don’t need to be very good at math or physics to participate in the camp.
“What we’re doing is showing them that there’s an opportunity for them. You don’t have to be a math or physics genius to participate. We welcome all students, but as they participate, we hope to spark an interest that might make them consider engineering or biological sciences, then that’s really the main goal;
He added that the industry has been very supportive of the camp.
“It will be even better if we have additional funding from industry so that instead of limiting this to a summer program, we can run it as a year-round activity where students, during school days or weekends, week, we can bring some students in and work with them so that there is continuous lifelong learning and exposure to engineering and science,” said Nnanna.
Eventually, he said, this will create a much-needed workforce to boost the region’s economy.
“It will also help improve the retention and graduation rate of secondary school students and minimize dropout rates,” Nnanna said.
