As a Sophomore student at Boston University, I had the need to get more involved with my community, both within the university and in the greater Boston Area. An opportunity was advertised to me one day while I was in my Circuits class called the Technology Innovation Scholars Program, an organization under the College of Engineering that did a lot of STEM outreach work in the community. I decided to apply, and a month later I heard back from the organization that I was accepted. Little did I know that this was the first step into a deep and fulfilling investment into this program and the work the organization sets out to do.
What is a "Societal Engineer"
As you may have noticed by the banner, the term "Societal Engineer" is one that is associated with the College on Engineering at BU. It is a term that I have heard about since I started my time at the university, and is a concept that we try to push as we perform outreach activities. Here is the official description of what a "Societal Engineer" means, provided by the BU College of Engineering:
"The Societal Engineer has a sense of purpose and appreciation for how an engineering education and its experiences are superior foundations for improving society. To create the Societal Engineer, Boston University embeds not only the powerful, quantitative and creative problem-solving skills inherent to all engineers, but also a set of equally important complementary attributes:
In essence, the goal of a Societal Engineer is to improve the quality of life for all and to help move society forward. As an organization, TISP intends to spread this message as we help encourage the next generation get excited and involved in STEM careers.
As you may have noticed by the banner, the term "Societal Engineer" is one that is associated with the College on Engineering at BU. It is a term that I have heard about since I started my time at the university, and is a concept that we try to push as we perform outreach activities. Here is the official description of what a "Societal Engineer" means, provided by the BU College of Engineering:
"The Societal Engineer has a sense of purpose and appreciation for how an engineering education and its experiences are superior foundations for improving society. To create the Societal Engineer, Boston University embeds not only the powerful, quantitative and creative problem-solving skills inherent to all engineers, but also a set of equally important complementary attributes:
- Comfort and effectiveness at communication tasks
- Systems-level thinking
- Global awareness
- A passion for, and understanding of, the innovation and entrepreneurial process from product design to deployment
- Awareness of how public policies impact technology innovation and advancement
- A social consciousness and appreciation for how products advance our quality of life while creating jobs and economic opportunity
In essence, the goal of a Societal Engineer is to improve the quality of life for all and to help move society forward. As an organization, TISP intends to spread this message as we help encourage the next generation get excited and involved in STEM careers.
Being an "Inspiration Ambassador"
During the first half of the year with the program, I was officially called an Inspiration Ambassador. under this title, I was part of the team of people that would go into high school classrooms and lead STEM modules called "Innovations-in-a-Box". The layout of these modules is simple:
There are many opportunities to visit schools. Every Friday we would all go visit one school in downtown Boston, Josiah Quincy Upper School, and teach the students there, I was a part of those visits. As a program, we also did one off visits to schools (including the on where Dean of Engineering's daughter attends), and participated in helping out a Saturday after school program called the Calculus project. In total, I would say that we reach upwards of 150-200 students continuously across 5 schools and an after school program. This semester would be the only time where I would be doing these schools visits because the following semester, I was offered the chance to become a FIRST Robotics Mentor through TISP, which I accepted. I talk more about this in the FIRST Robotics page.
During the first half of the year with the program, I was officially called an Inspiration Ambassador. under this title, I was part of the team of people that would go into high school classrooms and lead STEM modules called "Innovations-in-a-Box". The layout of these modules is simple:
- A real life problem is presented that need some sort of engineered solution.
- Then, with a group of students, I help walk them through a simplified version of the engineering design process (DEFINE the problem, DESIGN a solution, EVALUATE the solution, REFINE to make the the solution better).
- After walking the students through all of these steps, we ask questions about their take-aways from the activity, what they thought about it, and how these solutions can appear to solve the real life equivalents of the problems framed.
There are many opportunities to visit schools. Every Friday we would all go visit one school in downtown Boston, Josiah Quincy Upper School, and teach the students there, I was a part of those visits. As a program, we also did one off visits to schools (including the on where Dean of Engineering's daughter attends), and participated in helping out a Saturday after school program called the Calculus project. In total, I would say that we reach upwards of 150-200 students continuously across 5 schools and an after school program. This semester would be the only time where I would be doing these schools visits because the following semester, I was offered the chance to become a FIRST Robotics Mentor through TISP, which I accepted. I talk more about this in the FIRST Robotics page.
TISP Summer Intern
The summer between my Sophomore and Junior year, I was offered an internship through TISP. Throughout my time as an intern, I did a few things:
The summer between my Sophomore and Junior year, I was offered an internship through TISP. Throughout my time as an intern, I did a few things:
- Participated as a volunteer and tour guide for the ASM Materials Experience for High School Students hosted by Boston University.
- Developed two Innovations-in-a-Box that will be used a year later during school visits taking place my Junior year (and beyond).
- A camp volunteer and assistant for the U-Design Summer Camp hosted by BU.
- Participated in a full redesign of the TISP organization, including being a part of the hiring process for the new Dean of Outreach and Diversity and the formation of a TISP Student Leadership Board.
Developing Innovations-in-a-Box
Many Innovations-in-a-Box are based on research that is being done by professors at BU. During the second week of my internship, all of the other interns and I met with various research professors throughout the College of Engineering to hear about their research, which ranged from material science to synthetic biology. We sat in as they presented their work to us and expressed their wish to have STEM modules created to help educate students on the applications and cutting edge technology of their subject. Following all of these presentations, we rated each one on interest in order to figure out who would work on what. In the end, I ended up with my top choice: creating an Innovation-in-a-Box that focused on the science behind Solar Cells. On top of this, the mathematics department of the School of Education requested that we make a math themed Innovation-in-a-Box from a list that they supplied. This was also assigned to me, and I choose to create one that focused on Compound Probability. This means that throughout the summer, I was responsible for the creation of two Innovations-in-a-Box. At the end of my summer internship, I got to present these two projects to the research groups that they were based on as well as to various donors of TISP. Click on one of the images below to learn more about what I ended up creating:
Many Innovations-in-a-Box are based on research that is being done by professors at BU. During the second week of my internship, all of the other interns and I met with various research professors throughout the College of Engineering to hear about their research, which ranged from material science to synthetic biology. We sat in as they presented their work to us and expressed their wish to have STEM modules created to help educate students on the applications and cutting edge technology of their subject. Following all of these presentations, we rated each one on interest in order to figure out who would work on what. In the end, I ended up with my top choice: creating an Innovation-in-a-Box that focused on the science behind Solar Cells. On top of this, the mathematics department of the School of Education requested that we make a math themed Innovation-in-a-Box from a list that they supplied. This was also assigned to me, and I choose to create one that focused on Compound Probability. This means that throughout the summer, I was responsible for the creation of two Innovations-in-a-Box. At the end of my summer internship, I got to present these two projects to the research groups that they were based on as well as to various donors of TISP. Click on one of the images below to learn more about what I ended up creating:
Being a U-Design Volunteer
During the final two weeks of the TISP Summer Internship, the College of Engineering hosted a two week camp for middle and high school students called U-Design. This camp had students participate in week long modules that got them involved with hands on engineering activities. For the first week of the camp, I was assigned to the Intro to Electric Circuits modules and for week two I was assigned to the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics module. Each week, I interacted with about 20 students. I developed a relationship with many as I help show then how to build the various projects and educate them on how things worked.
In the Circuits module, I walked around as the teacher educated the students about simple components of an electric circuit such as buttons, the concept of parallel vs series, and solenoids. The students had to use what they learned to create come cool things such as candy safes, alarm systems, and DC motors. And through the process I was there to help walk them through the design process, troubleshoot, and help answer any questions they had. One group of girls even started calling me "Dr. Brandon" because of how helpful I was to them (and they decorated my name tag to match).
In the LEGO Mindstorms module, I helped students out with programing. Each day, the students had to make a robot that could complete a task, and there was a small competition to see whose robot could complete the tasks most efficiently. I was there to help the students out by teaching them how to make the mechanical component interact with each other and to help them understand how to think like a programmer. In the end, this knowledge culminated in a "robot sumo" as the groups would create robots to fight each other in a sumo match. I even participated in this for fun, and the kids definitely enjoyed it.
During the final two weeks of the TISP Summer Internship, the College of Engineering hosted a two week camp for middle and high school students called U-Design. This camp had students participate in week long modules that got them involved with hands on engineering activities. For the first week of the camp, I was assigned to the Intro to Electric Circuits modules and for week two I was assigned to the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics module. Each week, I interacted with about 20 students. I developed a relationship with many as I help show then how to build the various projects and educate them on how things worked.
In the Circuits module, I walked around as the teacher educated the students about simple components of an electric circuit such as buttons, the concept of parallel vs series, and solenoids. The students had to use what they learned to create come cool things such as candy safes, alarm systems, and DC motors. And through the process I was there to help walk them through the design process, troubleshoot, and help answer any questions they had. One group of girls even started calling me "Dr. Brandon" because of how helpful I was to them (and they decorated my name tag to match).
In the LEGO Mindstorms module, I helped students out with programing. Each day, the students had to make a robot that could complete a task, and there was a small competition to see whose robot could complete the tasks most efficiently. I was there to help the students out by teaching them how to make the mechanical component interact with each other and to help them understand how to think like a programmer. In the end, this knowledge culminated in a "robot sumo" as the groups would create robots to fight each other in a sumo match. I even participated in this for fun, and the kids definitely enjoyed it.
The Student Leadership Board
The year I entered TISP also turned out to the the last year that the leaders of the organization would be there (being the Dean of Outreach and Diversity and the Outreach Coordinator). Traditionally, these two people would lead the organization without any student input and would handle all of the logistics. After their departure from the university, the interim Dean of Outreach and Diversity decided that this club should move toward being student run. And thus the Student Leadership Board (SLB) was born. There were many aspects of TISP that needed leadership such as coordinating the actions of the FIRST mentors, organizing the schools visits, training the TISP members, etc. All of the interns over the summer were offered the chance at a position, and because I had been a first mentor the semester prior, I decided to apply to be the FIRST Logistics Coordinator of the SLB. and I got the position! I talk more about this leadership role in the FIRST Robotics page. |