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Power Engineering Day: A Way to Attract High School Students from Underrepresented Groups to Consider Careers in Electric Power

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

ECCD Innovative Teaching Methods & Outreach

Tagged Division

Energy Conversion and Conservation

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

16

Page Numbers

26.1232.1 - 26.1232.16

DOI

10.18260/p.24569

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/24569

Download Count

508

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Paper Authors

biography

Lisa Shatz Suffolk University

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Associate Professor at Suffolk University In Electrical Engineering.
PI of NSF SSTEM grant, Electrical Engineering Scholars at Suffolk.
Work with the Power Industry to put an emphasis on electric power in our curriculum

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biography

Timothy A Poynton University of Massachusetts Boston

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Dr. Timothy Poynton is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He was previously an associate professor and School Counseling program director at Suffolk University.

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Abstract

Power Engineering Day-a way to attract high school students from underrepresented groups to consider careers in electric powerSuffolk University’s ABET-accredited electrical engineering program, located on Beacon Hill inBoston, hosted its first of what will be annual events, Power Engineering Day, whose purpose isto expose high school students to careers in electric power. The motivation for this event came,in part, from Suffolk’s partners in the power industry who are in need of recent graduates toreplace their aging workforce, and from the knowledge that new and renewable sources ofelectric power are becoming more important, and that the current aging system of powergeneration and delivery needs to be overhauled. This event is part of an NSF S-STEM grantawarded on January 1st 2014 to Suffolk’s electrical engineering program to encourage studentsfrom Boston Public High Schools, who are predominantly from underrepresented groups, tostudy electrical engineering and to be exposed to the power industry. The event was held the dayafter spring semester final examinations, allowing Suffolk electrical engineering students topresent demos of renewable electricity generation, to lead high school students to the differentdemos presented by the companies, Suffolk staff and students, and to in general help run theevent. Evaluations of the event were obtained from both the companies and the studentparticipants, who were overall satisfied with it although they had a few suggestions for itsimprovement, such as having more hands-on activities and having more contact time between thehigh school students and Suffolk electrical engineering students as well as more contact timewith the industry exhibitors.

Shatz, L., & Poynton, T. A. (2015, June), Power Engineering Day: A Way to Attract High School Students from Underrepresented Groups to Consider Careers in Electric Power Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24569

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