IDEA Engineering Student Center Spring 2019 Newsletter
Photo by: Erik Jepsen
Engineering Overnight Program
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The overall experience was amazing and it really opened my eyes to what UCSD and JSOE was all about and it definitely influenced me to submit my SIR.
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- EOP Participant
At the annual Engineering Overnight Program (EOP), held on April 11-13, 2019, the IDEA Center hosted 85 high school seniors who have been admitted to an engineering major on campus. This 3-day, 2-night program is geared towards providing these admitted students from underserved groups an opportunity to experience the university environment and campus life at UC San Diego, meet fellow admitted high school seniors and current engineering students, and get a feel for the supportive community that awaits them at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Many thanks to the 85 current engineering students who volunteered to host these EOP participants in their dorms and apartments. Special thanks to our EOP committee, made up of student leaders from our diversity student organizations and the Triton Engineering Student Council, for planning and coordinating another successful program: Catherine Xia (TESC), Grace Garcia (oSTEM), Jocelyn Valencia (SHPE), Kyle Skelil (NSBE), Madeline Sporkert (WIC), and Payal Singh (SWE). Out of the 85 admitted freshmen who attended this event, 53 accepted their offer to UC San Diego and will be joining the Jacobs School family in Fall 2019.
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Breakfast with the Dean
Our annual Breakfast with the Dean, held during Triton Day on April 13, 2019 for admitted engineering freshmen, and Transfer Triton Day on May 11, 2019 for admitted engineering transfer students, provide an opportunity for students from underserved groups to meet current engineering students, faculty, and staff. They were able to ask questions and learn about the various programs at the Jacobs School of Engineering that promote their academic success and social engagement. Breakfast with the Dean on April 13th was attended by 65 admitted freshmen and their family. Thanks to our diversity organizations for partnering with us on this event, especially Maria Galvez (SWE), Priyal Suneja (WiC), Laura Gutierrez (SHPE), Chris Yun (SASE), Tee Srey (oSTEM), and Muno Ogelohwohor (NSBE). Forty-six out of the 65 admitted freshmen who attended this event accepted their offer to UC San Diego and will be joining us in Fall 2019! Forty-six of the 56 transfer engineering students who attended our Breakfast with the Dean on May 11th accepted their offer of admission to UC San Diego and will also be joining us in Fall 2019! Thanks to our diversity organizations for partnering with us on this event, especially Tee Srey (oSTEM), who was our emcee, and our student panelists: Anne Cardenas from SWE, Josh Florez from SHPE, Yang Zhang from SASE, and Mariam Ahmed from NSBE. Spring 2019 IDEA Newsletter | 3
GEAR We have accepted undergraduate students into the inaugural cohort of the Guided Engineering Apprenticeship in Research (GEAR), which will run during the 2019-2020 academic year. During this year-long program, GEAR research apprentices will participate in the new ENG 20 “Introduction to Engineering Research” course, conduct research under the guidance of faculty and graduate students, receive mentorship from an IDEA Center graduate student mentor, and present a poster on their research. We are proud that GEAR is supported in part by an Innovation Grant from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. GEAR aims to provide a scaffolded research experience to support the development of students’ research self-efficacy, engineering identity, and sense of belonging and inclusion within the field--especially among underrepresented, first generation, and low-income students. GEAR is the analogue to the CSE Early Research Scholars Program (CSE-ERSP) run by Dr. Christine Alvarado. CSE-ERSP serves students majoring in computer science and engineering, while GEAR serves students in other engineering majors. We look forward to this collaboration to provide new research experiences to students across the Jacobs School of Engineering. 4 | Spring 2019 IDEA Newsletter
Dr. Olivia Graeve
Chancellor’s Associates Excellence Award
Congratulations to Dr. Olivia Graeve, who was honored at the 45th annual Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence Awards for making a difference in the community. In her role as the Faculty Director of the IDEA Engineering Student Center, Dr. Graeve promotes student success and strongly advocates for a caring environment for all students at the Jacobs School of Engineering. “Professor Graeve is an exemplary role model and a person extraordinarily committed to community service,” said Dean of Jacobs School of Engineering Albert P. Pisano. “Not only is she recognized internationally as an expert in materials for extreme environments, she brings hope to many by leading numerous outreach programs related to the recruitment and retention of women, Latinx/Chicanx and other underrepresented students in science and engineering.”
SHPEtinas Conference This year’s SHPEtinas Conference, held on April 6th, 2019, aimed to provide support, inspiration, and networking opportunities for Latina students and professionals. A series of workshops, events, and activities brought to light gender underrepresentation in STEM and pushed for greater diversity in industry and academia. With the help of six company sponsors and the regional SHPE chapter, SHPEtinas was able to fully fund the event that hosted approximately 50 participants who traveled from various parts of southern California, Arizona, and Nevada. All of the participants were paired up with company representatives who shared similar educational backgrounds in an effort to create a lasting mentorship opportunity. This event featured a number of inspirational speakers to empower and inspire the attendees in their STEM journeys, one of which was SHPE UCSD’s faculty advisor, Dr. Daniela Valdez-Jasso. One of the new additions to the conference from the prior year was a workshop catered to male participants that aided them in understanding Latinas’ struggles and minorities in engineering and STEM.
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EMPOWER
High School Conference On April 20th, 2019, the Society of Hispanic and Professional Engineers (SHPE) hosted 131 students at the UC San Diego campus for their annual Empower High School Conference. At this one-day outreach event, SHPE exposed these high school students from underrepresented communities around San Diego to Engineering and the possibility of a future in a STEM field. Students engaged in numerous hands-on activities focused on various engineering disciplines, learned about the strong SHPEtinas presence at UCSD, and participated in a workshop on applying to college. Kudos to Fernando Gil, Juan Gutierrez, and the whole SHPE UCSD familia for inspiring these high school students to follow a career in the STEM field!
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HACK XX The main mission of Hack XX, which was held on April 6th-7th, 2019, was to inspire women who were interested in technology, hoping to learn something new, and bring them together to showcase all the amazing things they can do. The event had inspiring guest speakers, workshops and tech talks. There were lots of cool projects at the end of the hackathon! Overall, participants provided very positive feedback on Hack XX.
SPLASH
Splash gives high school students a brief taste of college life. Held on April 20th, 2019, participants had the opportunity to see what some classrooms on a college campus look like and interact with college students. Students also have autonomy in choosing their classes and planning their schedule out for the day, an important aspect of college that often goes overlooked. One of the big goals of Splash as an educational outreach program, which is an annual event coordinated by the Triton Engineering Student Council, is to show students that learning can be fun. With teachers teaching classes on subjects of their interest and students choosing the classes they want to take, the probability that class time is productive is greatly increased. Teachers as well as students are more likely to be interested and engaged in course content than a typical class or lecture.
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BE WiSE Overnight Program
On April 26 & 27, the Jacobs School of Engineering and IDEA Center hosted our first-ever BE WiSE Overnight Program at UC San Diego. In partnership with the San Diego Fleet Science Center, 40 middle school girls got to learn more about engineering by hearing about Dr. Stephanie Fraley’s research, and participating in hands-on activities related to Chemical Engineering, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. They also had the opportunity to talk to some of our amazing women studying engineering at the Jacobs School. Special thanks to Society of Women Engineers and Women in Computing for your unwavering commitment in not only inspiring girls to be future engineers, but by clearly showing them the way!
Concrete Canoe Pacific Southwest Conference
The UCSD Concrete Canoe team had a very successful 2019 competition season at the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC) organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from April 3 to April 5. After nine months of designing, experimenting, and building, the end product was the stellar canoe Cosmos. This year, 18 total teams competed against Cosmos in the Concrete Canoe competition. Concrete Canoe is proud to say that UCSD ranked second overall in the conference, a feat never before accomplished in UCSD’s 17-year history in the competition. The team had one of the best technical papers and oral presentations thus far, with only minor point losses that can be improved. 8 | Spring 2019 IDEA Newsletter
NSBE Convention
National Society of Black Engineers Augustine Obirieze, a PhD Candidate in NanoEngineering and a Sloan Fellow, attended this year’s 45th Annual Convention of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), which took place in Detroit, Michigan. Augustine tabled for the Jacobs School of Engineering, talking to students and staff/representatives from other academic institutions about engineering graduate programs at UC San Diego, sharing his graduate and San Diego experience, and highlighting the benefits of the Sloan Fellowship program. He was also able to visit some of the hospitality suites offered by engineering companies, attended a number of professional workshops, participated in the career fair, and networked with professionals from some of the most sought-after companies. Many thanks to Augustine for being such a great ambassador for the Jacobs School of Engineering and the Sloan Fellowship program!
Design, Build, Fly
Thirteen members of the Design, Build, Fly (DBF) team were able to attend the annual competition in Tucson, Arizona from April 11th through the 14th. The team was able to successfully pass technical inspection and complete the ground mission on the second day of the competition. The theme for this year’s competition is to support carrier operations. The aircraft must be capable of having a minimum wingspan of 4 feet and have folding surfaces such that it will fit past a space of 3 feet wide and 2 feet high in the stowed condition. The aircraft must include a rotating radome and attack stores underneath the wing that must be dropping with each lap the aircraft makes. The pilot of the aircraft must remotely activate the radome to spin, and for each payload to be dropped individually on command. Additionally, the aircraft must be launched from a 10 ft long ramp and must maintain flight after its departure from the edge of the ramp. Spring 2019 IDEA Newsletter | 9
This will be the last edition of the IDEA Center Quarterly Newsletters. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to keep up to date with IDEA Center events and engineering student highlights!
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IDEA Engineering Student Center UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive #0429 La Jolla, CA 92093 Phone: (858) 534-6105 Email: idea@eng.ucsd.edu