ME Day 2009 at Lamar University

          Mechanical Engineering Day or ME Day is an annual event at Lamar University where high school students are exposed to mehcanical engineering. This year, ME Day took place on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Each year different schools, or groups of schools, are invited. Twenty-five students from Nederland High and Port Neches-Groves High attended this year.

After the welcome from Dr. Hsing-Wei Chu, Department Chairman and this year’s organizer, mechanical engineering senior Julie Daspit, the students had the opportunity to interact with faculty and current mechanical engineering students.

Talks on various aspects of mechanical engineering were presented. Dr. Paul R. Corder, P.E., spoke to the students about the Mechanical Engineering Program at Lamar. Dr. Corder outlined the three things that employers seek in graduating seniors: good grades, experience, and good communication skills.

Madhu Panchal, P.E., an experienced mechanical engineer, shared with the high school students examples of day-to-day activities out in the real world as he experienced them. He said that mechanical engineers are very similar to medical doctors such as when problems arise, it is the responsibility of the engineer to analyze and diagnose the situation so that the proper “medication” or fix can be provided.

The students had the opportunity to ask questions openly during the speakerss presentations. Ryan Thompson, a mechanical engineering junior, shared with the attendees his experience as a co-op student. Ryan has had the opportunity to work at ExxonMobil – Beaumont a number of times. Ryan shared the benefits of this opportunity with the high school students.

Two teams of graduating mechanical engineering seniors presented their concept, design phase, barriers that they overcame, and up-to-date progress on their senior design project. The Mini Baja Team displayed the students their almost complete competition vehicle. The Escaladder Team presented their accomplishments on the ladder for the NASA Lunar Lander competition.

The visiting students had time to interact with each other in team building competitions. The first competition entailed building the tallest possible structure out of straws and masking tape. All of the teams were given the same number of straws and the same length of tape. The second competition was to build an aluminum boat from aluminum foil and scotch tape. The students were reminded of the principle of buoyancy in their efforts to build a boat that will hold the maximum number of pennies.

The last team competition motivated students to build a bridge from straws and scotch tape. The bridge that held the most coins won. The winning team received graphing calculators that will help them in their mathematics courses back in their school.

This activity was sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and the Lamar University Mechanical Engineering Department.

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