SSC: "Engineering and Science Summer Program

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The Calumet region (East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, and neighboring parts of Northwest Indiana and Illinois) has a very large minority student population with a low rate of enrollment in post-secondary education. The objective of this program is to demonstrate to these students that there are excellent job opportunities in engineering and science where graduates can earn a good living while doing work they enjoy with interesting people. The focus is on a five-week summer program for students entering grades 8 or 9, with follow-up activities for succeeding summers. The program is a cooperative activity of Purdue University Calument with the Gary and East Chicago school systems; it is administered by Purdue Calument and guided by a steering committee made up of representatives from Purdue Calument, Gary, East Chicago, and the Companies supporting the program. The key feature is the structure which ties science, math, and applications together; thus topics are chosen so that the participants see the importance of math as a basic tool, and its application to engineering and science. The mornings are primarily lecture/discussion/demonstration; the afternoons are hands-on (laboratory and computer usage) sessions or industrial tours. A topic that demonstrates the format is DC electric circuits (science and hands-on lab),along with simultaneous linear equations (math) PSpice (computer program to simulate electric circuits), and Northern Indiana Public Service Company (plant visit to observe and meet engineers for an electric utility distribution system). ***