Students from Sequoyah Schools visit OU College of Engineering

-

By Caitlin Schudalla
The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Native American high school students from Tahlequah’s boarding school, Sequoyah Schools, visited the University of Oklahoma campus yesterday as part of a special recruitment program sponsored and organized by Sooner Engineering Education Center (SEED).

In partnership with the Cherokee Nation and other Native American nations in Oklahoma, SEED and the OU College of Engineering brought 26 students and 5 teachers to campus yesterday to give these students special insight into the classwork, facilities, and overall day-to-day experience of college students pursuing engineering and science degrees.

Helping with the event were several OU students who are members of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, who acted as mentors and provided students with firsthand perspective.

“High school students usually have little to no idea what the academic side of college is like,” said SEED Center Director Dr. Mark Nanny. “Today’s tour was about taking the intimidation factor out of college and providing students with familiar faces to encourage their enrollment.”

For AISES president Lindsay Calhoun, an experience like this was a deciding factor in her decision to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, which she completed in 2004.

“I would say touring OU and meeting college students as a high school student had a big impact on my decision to come here,” Calhoun said.

Yesterday’s tour was the first of its magnitude, and was geared toward Native American students specifically becuase Native Americans have a very low representation among college students majoring in sciences - less than one percent.

The Sequoyah students who toured OU were selected by their teachers for their interest in mechanical engineering and science, and were given the opportunity to sit in on engineering classes in addition to viewing high tech research facilities like the Artificial Intelligence Lab and the Fears Structural Engineering Lab.

Yesterday’s tour was just one agenda item in the ongoing partnership of SEED and the Cherokee Nation, as teachers and faculty from OU and Sequoyah hope to collaborate on revamping the school’s science and math curriculum in the near future.

While the class auditing and tours were a helpful reference point for Sequoyah teachers, the day’s focus was on the students, with largely positive results.

“Overall I think they were very impressed and I got the impression they were very excited to be on campus,” Calhoun said, of the students’ reactions.

“(The students) seemed a little overwhelmed by the difficulty of the higher-level classes, but I think talking to the AISES mentors about their day-to-day experiences really helped take intimidation out of it,” Nanny said. “At the beginning of the day, the group was very subdued, but when I left them right before their departure, there were smiles all around.”

Popular posts from this blog

OU Engineering Welcomes 14 New Faculty Members for 2023-24

-
Image
OU Engineering has welcomed 14 new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. This marks a milestone in the college's growth journey, with faculty numbers increasing from just over 100 in 2017 to 175 in 2023. OU Engineering is committed to expanding its faculty ranks, aiming for over 200 faculty members by the 2025-26 academic year, says OU Engineering Dean John Klier. To achieve this goal, the college has initiated more than 20 faculty searches. The State of Oklahoma continues to acknowledge the need for more engineers. They recently responded to OU Engineering’s request for additional recurring funding. The funding will play a crucial role in offering undergraduate student tuition waivers, supporting graduate students and helping recruit new faculty and staff. These positions will be phased in over the next three years. "OU Engineering extends its gratitude for the ongoing support from the State of Oklahoma as it continues to address the growing demand for engineers,&quo
Read more

OU Engineering 1 of 28 Teams Nationwide to Receive DEPSCoR Grant

-
Image
University of Oklahoma engineering researcher Reza Foudazi, Ph.D., has been selected to receive a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense under the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or DEPSCoR. The highly competitive grant was awarded to only 28 academic teams nationwide.  An associate professor in the School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, Foudazi’s research centers on the exploration of electrochemical energy storage systems that incorporate multivalent ions. He says the systems are of interest due to their potential for higher energy density when compared to conventional lithium-based systems.  “We are dedicated to advancing the field of electrochemical energy storage. The primary goal of this research is to understand the fundamental design principles behind nanostructured thermoresponsive electrolytes for multivalent ions,” Foudazi said.  Foudazi's team will produce ionogel electrolytes by using block copol
Read more

OU Engineering Students Shine in Community Projects

-
Image
At the University of Oklahoma, a transformative course called Pathways to Engineering Thinking is leaving a mark on OU students and the community. In the first-year engineering course, over 800 students across 16 sections collaborated to tackle real-world challenges presented by community partners. Their projects ranged from developing prosthetic limbs for injured animals to creating innovative solutions for community gardens and zoos. The course aims to guide students through the engineering design process, emphasizing collaborative teamwork and problem-solving skills.  This semester’s projects reached many areas of the community. Partnerships with the OU Food Pantry, OU Community Garden, Oklahoma City Zoo, OU Engineering K-12 Outreach, a local dog rescue and the City of Norman provided students with real-world challenges to address. Each team delved into issues presented by the partners, working toward delivering functional design solutions by the semester’s end. The heart of the cou
Read more