Katie Warthen of Laurel, Mont., works on a project during the recent Engineering Summer Program at the University of Wyoming. Sponsored by the UW College of Engineering and Applied Science, the week-long summer residency program is for students entering their senior year of high school. It provides students with an opportunity to explore various areas of engineering.

UW Engineering and Applied Science Hosts Engineering Summer Program

July 08. 2009 -Thirty high school students from Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Montana attended the recent Engineering Summer Program (ESP). The program, sponsored by the Wyoming Engineering Society, J. Kenneth and Pat Kennedy Endowment, and the College of Engineering and Applied Science, provides an opportunity for students to learn about the engineering discipline. ESP also serves as an excellent recruiting tool for the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The program is a way to impress upon participants that science, math, and engineering can be exciting, interesting, and rewarding.

Students attended the program this summer for a fun filled week of classes, field trips, and activities. This year’s ESP offered hands-on classes in composite materials, robotics, computer science, computer electronics, engineering structures, and chemical rockets. The all-day trip to to Cheyenne, Wyoming included stops at the Wal-Mart distribution center, Happy Jack Wind Farm, Puma Steel, Laramie’s LCCC campus, and a visit to a granite quarry. Evening activities included a trip to the climbing wall in Half Acre Gymnasium, bowling, a viewing at the UW Planetarium, picnics, sports, and summertime fun.

We were pleased to have three very competent conference assistants this year in engineering college students Rebecca Johnson, Rob Streeter, and Analisa Stephens. Coordinators for the program were Jeff Anderson of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Lindy Johnson of the College of Engineering and Applied Science Center for Student Services.

If you know a student who will be a junior in high school in fall 2009, send us their name and we will make sure they are added to our ESP 2010 mailing list. For more information, contact Jeff Anderson at esp@uwyo.edu or 307-766-3180.