OU Engineering

NORMAN– The gold standard in engineering is to create efficiency, but for 47 University of Oklahoma incoming freshmen students, the goal is total complexity. Engineering students taking the OU College of Engineering’s AT&T Summer Bridge Program are challenged to take a simple task, like turning a page, and make it complicated while still completing the task. The teams' off-the-wall contraptions are famously inspired by the designs of Rube Goldberg. “It may seem backwards, asking engineering students to take something as simple as hammering a nail and make it as complicated as possible, but by thinking through the grandiose process, these students are learning the basic skills of engineering mechanics such as the value of experimentation, teamwork and design reliability,” said Lisa Morales, program director. The AT&T Summer Bridge Program is a four-week, on-campus residential program that prepares students for life as an engineering student. In addition to early exposure t