A new camp designed to draw high school girls into the world of engineering is being launched this summer at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering.
GRADE Camp (Girls Reaching and Demonstrating Excellence in Engineering) is an innovative, challenging day camp designed to introduce high school girls to the marvels of engineering. There will be two one-week camps held this summer, June 9-13 and June 16-20.
The girls' week at GRADE Camp will center on designing, building and programming a Lego Robot to autonomously maneuver through a maze. The original curriculum, designed largely by Electrical Engineering Professor John Glover, will be interspersed with breaks for games that subtly reinforce principles the girls have learned in class and in lab.
Jenny Ruchhoeft, GRADE program director, explains, "We have created GRADE Camp to support a 'theory into practice' model. The girls learn about underlying theory, such as voltage and currents, motors and generators, and feedback control, in the mornings and actually get to apply that knowledge in their Robot Lab during that same afternoon. By the end of camp, they will understand the rationale and fundamentals behind the fun of building the actual robot.
"I am delighted to be doing something to help introduce girls into a field where they are typically underrepresented. I think we'll all benefit from having a more balanced pool of potential engineers and scientists," says Ruchhoeft.
Any girl who completes the program and chooses to major in either Electrical or Computer Engineering will receive an automatic $1,000 scholarship to the University of Houston
GRADE Camp is the result of a Texas Technology Workforce Development Grant through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). GRADE Camp is the recruiting portion of the grant. Redshirt Camps, Circuits Workshops and Electromagnetics Workshops represent the retention portion of the grant.