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Successful Pre-College Summer Programs

Abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) has conducted pre-college programs for seven summers (in years 2000 to 2006). During these seven summers, more than 880 pre-college students have enrolled in 30 courses. Moreover, female and minority categories each constitute more than 50% of the participants. Indeed, youth are being greatly impacted by the WIMS summer programs. The significance of the summer programs can be indicated with several factors: 1. Phenomenal participation count and percentages by female and minority students. 2. Educational content of the programs; each program has a subset of the core topics. 3. WIMS core components (microsystems and miniaturization, sensors/actuators, and microcontrol), along with societal impacts, are emphasized.

This paper provides information about each of the several summer programs, including their educational content, program structure, participant demographics, and evaluation results to help explain reasons the programs have been successful. Success is defined according to student academic preparation for technical majors and selection of those areas for a college major; students returning in future years for more advanced programs; referral recommendations by the participants and parents to other students; and results for underrepresented female and minority participation.

Introduction and Overview

WIMS ERC Structure: WIMS is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) with initial core partner universities of the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (UM), Michigan State University (MSU), and Michigan Technological University (MTU). During its seven year duration, WIMS now has outreach partner universities of Prairie View A&M University, University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez, North Carolina A&T State University, Howard University, University of California – Berkeley, and University of Utah. ERCs have industry partners; WIMS has about 15 such industry partners (small, medium, and large sizes) including Motorola, Freescale, Schlumberger, Stryker, Agilent, Medtronics, etc. Of course, NSF is the major partner, and each university contributes substantial internal funding. WIMS is structured with nine areas consisting of five Research Thrusts: (r1) Biomedical Sensors and Subsystems, (r2) Environmental Sensors and Subsystems, (r3) Wireless Interfaces including MEMS, (r4) Micropower Circuits, and (r5) Advanced Materials, Packaging, and Processes (formerly Micropackaging thrust); two engineered systems testbeds: (t1) Neural Prostheses and (t2) Environmental Monitoring; an Education Programs Thrust; and an Industrial Liason for external and industry relations.

Education Programs Thrust Structure: The goals of the WIMS Education Programs Thrust are to educate the next generations of engineers and scientists about WIMS and with WIMS, and to rapidly transfer results from the research domain to the classroom domain. Proactive diversity and outreach initiatives, as well as evaluation, are to be integrated within each program. As depicted in Figure 1, the Education Programs Thrust provides comprehensive

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McAfee, L., & Kim, A. (2007, June), Successful Pre College Summer Programs Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2792