Pre-College Outreach in Electrical Engineering

能源系统与控制中心(CESAC)的一个主要活动是开发一个支持电力系统自动化和控制应用的卓越研究中心。该中心的次要活动包括一个暑期推广计划，让高中生和大专学生接触专家系统(ES)和电力系统(PS)的研究活动。该中心设施的一个为期五周的外展项目为学生提供了学习电气工程基础知识的机会，并让他们参与到中心赞助的研究活动中。该项目使该中心有机会让高中生参与研究和工程教育。多年来，我们已经吸引了50多名少数民族高中生参加该项目。这些学生中有几个是高成就者，平均绩点很高，有动力和潜力在大学取得成功。大多数被选中的学生在学业能力倾向测试(SAT)中取得了1300分以上的成绩，并自那以后被优秀大学录取。这是从该项目中获得的学习经验的成功和影响的展示。为了继续这一趋势，我们提议为大学前的非裔美国学生、其他少数民族和女性提供多年教育计划。为确保日后有少数族裔人士参与科学工作，我们计划增加对工程专业的兴趣，因为在二十一世纪，工程专业仍具吸引力。课程内容包括：电气工程基础，涵盖所有电气工程(通信、控制、信号处理、电力系统、材料科学和固态电子、微波和天线)的各种研究项目主题、口头和书面交流技能、领导力培训和工程专业主题。夏季将进行为期五周的扩展计划，包括学生、教师和行业之间的互动。该计划将包括代表我们的各种赠款的赞助机构作为主旨演讲者和高中生导师。参与者还将参与与其他历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)和电力学校工程研究联盟(PSERC)学校的交流项目。在学年期间，该计划将允许学生与霍华德大学的研究教授接触，参加霍华德大学教职员工在选定学校举办的科学博览会。该计划还将包括精选的高中教师，他们将参与技术意识、问题解决和设计技能的磨练。我们与大学前非裔美国学生的经验可以作为基准，对照我们提高他们的GPA和SAT成绩的成功案例，提供积极的有利环境，从而增加他们进入工程学的机会，并可以被其他学校用作原型，以实现类似的成功。*

9800423MomohA major activity of the Center for Energy Systems and Control (CESAC) is the development of a research center of excellence in support of power systems automation and control applications.A secondary activity of the Center includes a summer outreach program to expose high school students and junior college students to research activities in expert systems (ES) and power systems (PS). A five-week outreach program at the Center's facility provides the opportunity for students to engage in learning electrical engineering fundamentals and involve them in the Center's sponsored research activities. The project gave the Center the opportunity to involve high school students in research and engineering education.Over the years, we have attracted more than 50 minority high school students to the program. Several of these students are high achievers with very high grade-point-averages and the motivation and potential to succeed at the university level. A majority of the students selected scored above 1300 on the scholastic aptitude test (SAT) and have since enrolled in outstanding universities. This is a demonstration of the success and impact of the learning experience gained from the program. To continue this trend, we are proposing a multi-year educational program for pre-college African American students, other minorities and women. To ensure future participation of minorities in science, we plan to increase interest in the engineering profession which will remain attractive in the 21' century. The program contents include: electrical engineering fundamentals, a variety of research project topics spanning all of electrical engineering spectrum (communications, control, signal processing, power systems, materials science and solid state electronics, microwave and antenna), oral and written communication skills, and leadership training and topics on the engineering profession.The outreach program will be done during the summer for five weeks to include interaction of students, faculty and industry. The program will involve sponsoring agencies representative of our various grants as keynote speakers and high school students mentors. The participants will also be involved in exchange programs with other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Power Schools Engineering Research Coalition (PSERC) schools. During the school year, the program will allow students to be engaged with research professors at Howard University, participate in science fairs hosted by Howard University faculty in selected schools. The program will also include selected high school teachers who will be involved in technology awareness, problem solving and sharpening of their design skills.Our experience with pre-college African American students could be bench marked against our success story of improving both their GPA and SAT scores, providing positive enabling environment and thus enhancing their chances of enrolling in engineering and could be prototyped for usage by other schools to achieve similar success.***