More than 200 girls attend Alcoa-sponsored engineering event

More than 200 girls in grades 6-12 gathered on the UA campus over the weekend for the Women in Engineering program's Inquire! Innovate! Invent! The annual event, sponsored by Alcoa, is designed to give girls an inside look at women innovators and encourage them to consider their futures as innovators and inventors themselves.

The students put their problem-solving skills to the test during several hands-on activities, including construction of a robotic hydraulic arms. By carefully following instructions, the participants built machines that rotates 90 degrees and can pick up and move small objects -- all while learning about robotics, levers and simple machines, fluid dynamics, and engineering design and technology.

Later, the students learned about chemical food processing engineers and were asked to form groups of six and engineer the best way to quickly build custom order banana splits with strict food safety restrictions. The goal was to be the first team to build ten banana splits that met inspection. 

“This program began in 2008 as an evening program for twenty Girl Scouts, and this year with the generous help of the Alcoa Foundation and the support of the employees at Alcoa the program has grown to over 210 girls and their parents, teachers and troop leaders," says Heidi Cressmen, director of the Women in Engineering program. 

"We are fortunate to have a company like Alcoa in our backyard that is willing to support the efforts of programs like Women in Engineering Program at the University of Akron," says Cressmen. "Alcoa’s support to our program may be the catalyst that spurs a young woman on to do great things in engineering, science, technology or science one day!”

View more photos from Inquire! Innovate! Invent! For information about the Women in Engineering program and its events, visit wiep.uakron.edu.