Graduate students from MechSE as well as other Grainger Engineering departments and POETS partner universities, led hundreds of area students in STEM activities throughout the 2021-22 school year.
Written by POETS Center
POETS student Cary Laird Butler (PhD MechSE, Prof. Alleyne) helps students add a switch to the battery-powered car. Photo by Joe Muskin. During the 2021-22 school year, POETS students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were actively involved in STEM educational outreach at local elementary schools. Throughout the year, interactive experiments were conducted with 2nd-6th graders at Wiley Elementary School, Mahomet Elementary School, and Booker T. Washington STEM Academy which resulted in hundreds of student interactions to educate and excite students about a career in STEM.
In November and December, POETS students conducted a five-week outreach program at Wiley Elementary. where students progressively built a battery-powered car. This project allowed students to learn about the interaction of electricity and mechanical components which govern the vehicles of the present and future. Each week, the students progressively built the car which included batteries, motors, 3-D printed wheels, and switches. Through repeated visits to the school over a five-week period, volunteers were able to develop relationships with students and see them grow in confidence when working with electrical and mechanical components.
POETS students line up cars for a race at the 2022 Tech Conference. Cary Laird Butler (PhD MechSE, Prof. Alleyne), Shamar Christian (PhD EE, Univ. of Arkansas, Prof. Balda), Frank Andujar Lugo (PhD MechSE, Prof. Alleyne), Chris Urbanski (PhD MechSE, Prof. Alleyne), Phil Renkert (MS MechSE, Prof. Alleyne), and Waheed Bello (MS Aero, Prof. James). Photo by Elie Libbos.
In March, POETS conducted two outreach events with the Mahomet Elementary School Science Club. One day of these events focused on thermal experiments, while the other focused on electromagnet experiments. On the first day, students learned about electromagnetism and its application in transportation electrification. They built a simple electric motor prototype and were shown how electromagnetic breaks work. At last, a demo of a simple electric train, built using a battery, magnet, and coil, was shown to them. The second day taught students about thermal management by seeing a difference in thermal conductivity between materials and learning how these can be used for removing and retaining heat as desired. The electrical experiments allowed students to build a motor and battery from household materials to visualize electro-chemical and electro-magnetic interactions.
In May, POETS conducted an engineering expo at Booker T. Washington STEM Academy where ten organizations, including POETS, set up experimental booths with which students could interact. This restarted a pre-pandemic tradition of a spring engineering expo at Booker T. Washington and POETS looks forward to continuing this tradition into the future. These booths included interactive sessions on chemistry experiments, building paper airplanes, thermal cameras, and other activities. Additionally, students were able to win a gift bag for interacting with each of the booths!
Outreach coordinators Elie Libbos (PhD ECE, Prof. Banerjee) and Reid Smith (PhD MechSE, Prof. Alleyne).
At the POETS Technical Conference, students participated in an outreach training session to practice the outreach curriculum prepared by UIUC outreach coordinators. After receiving an overview on the single-day outreach experiments on electricity and thermal management, teams of students raced to build a working battery-powered car and a one-volt battery.
Overall, these outreach activities allowed POETS students to help build excitement around STEM topics within the Urbana-Champaign community and train for the next year of outreach. As part of the organization, a curriculum was built for each of these activities which can be used in future years. As the new year of school begins, we look forward to what POETS outreach will have in store!