Childhood favorite turns
ALEXA WOODS
Crlgllleermg 111 (to
LEGO blocks are the toys
that many people know and
love from childhood. But how
many are aware that these
blocks are used in engineer
ing as well?
On Nov. 13, area middle
school students came to Penn
State Behrend to engage their
problem-solving skills with
LEGO blocks. The FIRST
(For Inspiration and Recogni
tion of Science and Technol
ogy) LEGO League is one of
several types of competitions
held by FIRST.
FIRST is an organization
that promotes science, tech
nology, engineering and math
fields among students.
The FIRST LEGO league
(FLL) competition held at
Behrend involves students
creating and programming
robots using LEGO blocks.
A theme is selected for the
competitions each year.
"This year's theme is Body
Forward," said Melanie Ford,
the head of the Engineering
Outreach Center, who orga
nized the event this year. "It
combines engineering with
medical themes."
The robots are placed on
a table which has a course
set up on it. The robots move
about the course, completing
various tasks. 44 teams from
the area came to participate
at Behrend.
There are several advan
tages to students that partici
pate in the FLL. According to
the official website of FIRST,
usfirst.org, students that par
ticipate in FIRST programs
are three times more likely to
major enigging in col
tege,Ten ti - tees more likely to
ketAMMOMMilit or appren-
Winner of the 2009 -1010 Most Creative Program Award
http: plcasaweb google com
Penn State Behrend played host to the FIRST LEGO League, a robotics competition that had middle school students build competing bots of Legos to complete a series of
ticeship their freshman year, There are advantages to
and more than twice as likely hosting this competition at
to volunteer in their commu- Behrend as well. Students
nities, compared to students that may potentially pursue
with,4itAij o at, a et - qic bac i k,-, a STEM career in the future
grounithi that df(n part ci. get a first look at the Behrend
pate INVIRST. 4 campus. Behrend students
PSB hosts Women in Engineering Day
ALYSSA PEARS
engineering ts rifer
Recently, the Behrend K-12
Outreach program held its
annual Women in Engineer
ing Day here on campus. This
program provides a great
opportunity for young wom
en from surrounding high
schools to have a closer look
at the engineering programs
Behrend has to offer.
Melanie Ford, the head of
the engineering outreach cen
ter, worked with other faculty
members and local corpora
tions, such as LORD Corpora
tion and General Electric, to
put on this event.
Because there are so few
women in engineering, Ford
emphasizes the importance of
encouraging younger female
students to enroll within an
engineering program.
"We want to encourage
them [women] to pursue
Tau Beta Nu shoots for national chapter
CHRIS HENLEY
,nyineering tvriter
Tau Beta Nu is Penn State
Behrend's engineering honor
society. It is exclusive to Beh
rend, making our campus and
engineering programs here
all the more unique.
Although the club is a pro
visional society of Tau Beta
Pi, the national engineering
honor society, in two more
years, Tau Beta Pi will be able
to petition for a chapter in the
national society.
It is still a relatively new
organization, as it was only
established two years ago in
2008, but the time will come
soon for them to petition.
Once they do petition, and
careers in engineering and
many of them don't know
what engineering consists of
and how it helps people," said
Ford.
WIE day consists of sev
eral workshops that the high
school students attend. These
workshops provided a hands
on experience within the dif
ferent areas of engineering.
One workshop was called
"Flower Power," which was
led by General Electric, and
the girls were able to create a
circuit using soldering irons.
Santa, a 16-year-old from
Strong Vincent, claimed this
workshop was her favorite.
"Is really fun! It really
helps if you don't know what
you want to do for a career."
Another workshop, led by
LORD Corporation, allowed
the students to create cars
and put them through several
road tests.
This event taught the im-
when they become an official
chapter among Tau Beta Pi,
Behrend's members will be
able to attend the national
convention.
That's not all though. Ev
ery member ever in Behrend's
engineering honor society
will then become members
of the national engineering
honor society.
To run such an organiza
tion, there must be head posi
tions amongst the members.
To determine the officials
of the society, elections are
held in the spring semester of
each year.
At these elections, mem
bers vote for fellow affiliates
to take up positions in the or
ganizations office.
into league at Behrend
volunteered for this day as
well.
"We give students an op
portunity to give back to the
come 1 . aid, Ford.
offt students had
no ide; . big the competi-
portance of collaborative
work, as many engineers are
used to work on one particu
lar project.
"Clean Water Anyone," a
new event to the program this
year, challenged students to
find ways to filter water in or
der to provide clean drinking
water. This event simulated
what real engineers are at
tempting to do in third world
countries.
There are many different
fields of engineering and the
K-12 Outreach program is do
ing their best to spread the
word, especially to women.
This event enables high
school females to understand
engineering concepts and al
lows them to participate in
fun, hands-on activities that
involve problem solving.
Ford and the other engi
neering staff hope for contin
ued success of WIE day in the
future.
"Tau Beta Nu also
offers tutoring to stu
dents for junior and
senior level engineer
ing courses"
-STEEL FLYNN
PRESIDENT ENGINEERING
HONORS SOCIETY
Currently, the president of
the society is Steel Flynn, a
senior mechanical engineer
ing major and the vice presi
dent is Jaclyn Marsh.
111:N11i
tion is and had just as much
fun as the middle school stu
dents did."
After all, having fun is the
main point of the competi
tion.
"One student came in 38th
Photo provided by Melanie Ford
Women interested in engineering design system to lift a tea bag
powered only by air.
Also, Dr. Kathleen Muho
nen acts as the society's advi
She is an electrical and
computer engineering profes
sor here at Behrend.
Flynn became a member,
when he was inducted in the
fall of 2009.
He was elected to his cur
rent position as organiza
tion's president in the spring
of 2010.
"Currently, there are a
group of inductees working
on community service proj
ects to fulfill their volunteer
requirement for the society."
Flynn said
Tau Beta Nu also offers tu
toring to students for junior
and senior level engineering
place," said Ford, "but told me
he had the time of his life."
Behrend will be hosting
the FIRST Tech Competition
in February. If interested con
tact Ford at mrfllo/ psu.edu.
courses and several sopho
more courses on Tuesdays
and Thursdays from 6-Bpm.
Signs advertising this can
be found around the Burke
Center.
"We occasionally plan so
cial events to get together and
meet, and we are currently
looking for new ways other
than tutoring to get our name
out there as a society," said
Flynn
So if you're engineering
major, and you need a little
extra help studying for your
upcoming finals, look in to
the tutoring Tau Beta Nu can
offer you.
It could pay off big time
when you sit down in a class
for the last time this semester.