CUAUV conducts many volunteer and outreach activities geared at increasing interest in math, science, and engineering.  Below is a list of previous team outreach projects and affiliations, as well as links to resources we have used in our workshops.

What we do:

CUAUV looks for opportunities to run engineering workshops, often for underrepresented groups in mechanical engineering.  Some of our activities have included:

Enfield Elementary School after school science program:

Girl Scout Workshops: (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

Junior girl scouts earned their "Science in action" badge with the team by completing a series of station where they learn about problem solving, team work, and communication. The event culminated in a newspaper tower building competition.

Diversity Programs in Engineering Candidates weekend:

This event takes place in mid October targeting prospective students. CUAUV offers a team engineering challenge in CUAUV's lab workspace and the opportunity to pose questions about project teams and Cornell Engineering as a whole.

Expanding your horizons (EYH):

This is an annual one-day conference hosted near the end of April, for 7th-9th grade girls. CUAUV hosts one of the many workshops held on Cornell’s campus, challenging groups of students to a balloon-powered boat competition.

Upward Bound:

The goal of this one day summer program was to provide academic instruction and college preparation to high school students from the Elmira and Groton areas. CUAUV introduced project teams, the vehicle and provided a workshop activity.

Why we do it:

While it is unusual for a project team to dedicate so much time and energy to running outreach workshops, we have found that doing so improves team moral and solidarity.  Every team member contributes to outreach each semester by helping to organize or run events, and it gives everyone a way to connect outside of our day to day activities.  It is too easy, in the bustle of our design cycle, to forget why we chose engineering.  Working with kids who are discovering the joy of engineering for perhaps the first time reacquaints team members with that excitement.

Activities:

Links to the activities we have used in the multiple workshops listed above.  Some are home grown, some we borrowed from other sites.  All have listed our recommended ages.

Balloon Boats: Given limited time and resources, participants are asked to build a balloon powered boat that will travel the fastest from one end of a water tank to the other.

Newspaper Tower: Given limited time, newspaper and tape, participants are challenged to face off against their peers to build the highest free standing newspaper tower. The goal is to build the tallest tower with the least materials.

Paper Airplanes: Participants learn about how planes fly. They can then build paper airplanes and compete on which designs will go the furthest or stay the longest time in the air. A good place to find paper airplane designs: Paper Airplane Designs

Soap Boats: Explore the properties of soap water interaction with this activity. Experiment with boat design and see who has the fastest boat. http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/phenom/soappoweredboat.html

Newspaper Dome: Build a geodesic dome out of rolled newspaper. We have also done this activity with drinking straws so that everyone can have one to take home. From the building big website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/educator/act_geodesic_ho.html

Suspension Bridge: Using toothpicks and marshmellows, participants will learn about different bridge designs. They will learn what structures make a bridge sturdy and they will then be challenged to make a bridge that can hold the most weight.

Kinetic energy (Jumping frog and PVC catapult): Participants will make origami frogs and PVC catapults and learn about conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy.