by Anika Mody, Undergraduate Operations Assistant at CEEO

Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) had a very busy summer over at 200 Boston Ave, Medford. We employed 30 undergraduates to work on various research projects funded by industry and government grants. Undergrads worked at the CEEO June through mid-August. We also ran ten Design and Engineering Workshops (DEW) for different grade ranges each week (1st-12th grade), we ran two teacher workshops and ran three different workshops for outside organizations. We are really proud of all the work that came out of Summer 2019 and we are excited to apply everything that happened in summer to the Fall 2019 semester and beyond. Read below to learn a little more about summer intern projects and summer DEW projects.

Every summer the CEEO hosts many fun and educational workshops for kids K-12 to help them delve into the world of engineering in a fun and collaborative way. The workshops covered a variety of topics from engineering Pixar characters to a pirate engineering week. 

Students in the game design engineering program had the opportunity to design board games, arcade games, and computer games. From this program, they learned about Scratch coding and how to design games using simple materials such as LEGO.

The spy engineering program gave students the opportunity to engineer tools and plans for secret missions. They had the opportunity to come up with and built gadgets such as periscopes, centrifuges, and flashlights. This program allowed students to explore robotics and engineering design processes. 

Another popular program offered was the robotics class. This program introduced robotics to young students and challenged them with many open-ended engineering problems. They learned about momentum, gearing, weight distribution, and much more! 

These are only a few of the engineering workshops held at the CEEO this summer and we can’t wait to hold many more this year! 

Not only did the CEEO hold countless educational workshops but our staff also participated in new and exciting research. This summer was very busy with over 23 different research projects and 30 interns. One research project completed an exploration into engineering notebooks. Interns Liz Moison and Tommy George created orientation notebook for Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program (STOMP) leaders. These notebooks help activity leaders plan student activities and give feedback to student lessons. Furthermore, these notebooks could also be used by the students to be organized and to further explore topics presented in lessons. 

Another project completed by interns was an exploration into low-cost robotics. This research was completed in an effort to utilize more financially accessible tools to help expand the reach of engineering education. Keisha Mukasa, the researcher, laser cut chipboard pieces allowing for the building of versatile structures that can integrate with microprocessors. 

Finally, undergrads Emma Stevens and Zach Lane, worked on a project that would help teach middle schoolers about fluid flow. They achieved this by using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to visualize flow. They then implemented a lesson plan that required students to use toy boats and test a variety of different tails on six-foot-long race tracks. This was a fun but also an educational way to learn about fluid flow. 

Overall, we had a very successful summer and the CEEO and are so proud of all of our staff for all their hard work!