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Monday 6/11/2001	5 day quick link 6/8 \| 6/6 \| 6/4 \| 6/1 \| 5/30

Engineering camp to encourage girls

By Kurt Esposito
Summer Editor

Many girls do not realize the opportunities to them in engineering, so Purdue is holding a camp starting today and running through Friday to show them by having them assemble computers and design working robots.

Love Engineering At Purdue, which is hosted by the women in engineering program, is in its second summer at Purdue. It is a week-long camp designed to show girls the opportunities available in the field of engineering. It is for girls who have finished either the sixth or seventh grade.

"(It's) to introduce young women to science and engineering and to encourage more women to pursue degrees in the engineering, technology and science fields," said Betsy Willis, a graduate student in the Schools of Engineering and a counselor at the camp.

Carol Stwalley, assistant director of the women in engineering program, said the camp targets girls in that age group because it is just before they get ready for high school, which is when most girls lose interest in math and science courses.

"We're trying to show them that those kind of courses are important to go into engineering," she said. "Another important thing is they want to know they're going to make a difference in the world," she said.

She said since most girls tend not to like solo work, the camp also shows girls that the engineering field is much more group work.

The students in the camp participate in activities such as building a flashlight that does not require batteries, building and programming a robot and reassembling a computer.

"I was surprised to find that putting the computer together was one of their favorite things," said Stwalley.

She said the kids liked working with tools and using the computer once they reassembled it. "They were impressed that they were able to do it themselves."

The robots are built from kits, designed by Lego, for children in that age bracket. The kit features motorized parts and programmable computer chips. The girls, working in teams, design and program the robot themselves. Once the robots are built, they are put into competitions were they have to identify and remove four soda cans placed inside a circle.

"I enjoyed watching the girls and seeing them build the robots and seeing their teamwork throughout the week and their excitement," she said.

The girls are also given tours of various labs on campus as well as a Frito-Lay factory.

This summer the program has only 31 students, but Stwalley said that as word gets out, more kids will become interested.

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