Outreach
The purpose of Utah State's outreach program is to promote interest in math, science, and engineering in the local community. Utah State has organized several outreach activies reaching a total of over 750 youth in Northern Utah.
Expanding Your Horizons
Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is an annual event that is held in Ogden, Utah, where roughly 300 sixth to ninth grade girls attend various activities where they can learn about career opportunities that interest them. In conjunction with the local Utah State section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), this years Chimaera rocket team was able to help host a section entitled “So You Want to be an Astronaut?” While the local section of SWE focused on other aspects, the USU Chimaera rocket team gave a presentation on the history of rocketry and how the participants can become involved in rocketry now and in the future. There was great emphasis placed on influential women that have greatly effected the NASA program and helped them to understand the ordinary backgrounds they had. This helped them to understand that a person does not have to be “extra-special” to become extraordinary. The importance of working hard in math and science classes was also discussed and all during the presentation there were many questions asked. All of this combined with fun facts and visual aids such as a small model rocket for them to examine, proved to be a very influential presentation. Over the course of the day, this presentation was given nine times to groups of roughly 10 girls. Although the smaller group sizes allowed for better interaction and learning, this meant that not every girl that attended could take every “class” they desired. There was actually a limit placed by the EYH group stating that each girl could only sign up for three classes. Even with this restriction, “So You Want to be an Astronaut?” was one of the first classes filled. After the day was over the sixth to ninth grade girls were able to give input and say which section effected them the most and what they thought was the best presentation. After all of the votes were tallied, the “So You Want to be an Astronaut?” received the highest ratings with the highest scores given to the rocketry presentation done by the USU Chimaera rocket team.
Mount Logan Middle School
On April 2, 2009, a few members of the Chimaera team went to Mount Logan Middle School Math Classes. the Purpose was to teach about and instill an excitement about the sciences, engineering and the Chimaera program. Over the course of the day approximately 180 students were taught the importance of the science, math, and about the Chimaera team.
Logan High School, MESA
An activity was held at Logan High School with its Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) section. The purpose of this outreach event was to spark student interest in aerospace studies. The event was held over 3 weeks in October. During the first week, five of the team members gave a presentation on the Chimaera Rocket team and what is being done to enhance the Barracuda's design. During the second week, three members of the team helped the students build model rockets using recycled 2-liter bottles. They were shown where to place the fins, how to add weight and how to build a nosecone. Lastly during the third week, the rockets were launched at the high school. The MESA students enjoyed the competition of seeing whose rocket went the highest or flew with the most stability. There were about ten Logan High students in attendance each week.
Cache Valley Girls Scouts of America
On Saturday, March 28, 2009 the Cache Valley Girl Scouts were invited to the Utah State University Campus for a day of engineering and fun. The girls participated in 6 activities including: Astronaut Training, constellations, spaghetti bridges, foil boats, paper rockets, and non-newtonian fluids. The girls rotated through the activities learning about the topics then doing a hands on activity that they could take home when they were finished. Overall it was great day and the girls had a lot of fun. The Girl Scout Coordinator has asked to do another similar event this coming Fall. There were 17 girls in attendance that day. The event was also advertised in the Harold Journal, the article can be found at the following link: http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/03/27/news/news04-03-27-09.txt
Nasa Digital Learning Network
After winning the competition last year, the members of last year's team were invited to the recent night launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. While on site at the launch, the team was interviewed on NASA's Digital Learning Network. The members discussed the process of the design and construction of the Barracuda. They also were each given the chance to speak about their individual roles on team and what first got them interested in engineering. This was a great opportunity for the team to be able to reach out to more than just young minds in northern Utah.
Sand Ridge Jr. High School
On December 15, along with the local collegiate section of SWE, the team visited Sand Ridge Jr. High school in Roy, Utah. A 50 minute presentation was given to the entire seventh grade, 254 students, about what engineers do and the different types of engineering. Each presenter explained a different discipline in engineering and why they got into engineering themselves. Along with each section a video was shown to help the students see what they can really do. Some of the videos included rocket launches, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, robotics, and effects of liquid nitrogen on everyday items. The students also received an up close demonstration of a non-Newtonian fluid. Sand Ridge Jr. High provides the opportunity for eighth grade students to take a pre-engineering course, we were told that the presentation helped boost the enthusiasm in the students about taking this class in their future.
North Layton Jr. High School
The local collegiate section of SWE and members of this year’s team were invited to present to the North Layton Jr. High MESA club this past December. The presentation consisted of introductions of the Pike and the USU engineering program, what engineers really do, and several videos and demonstrations. The students were asked what they thought engineering really is, and what they can think of that engineers haven’t touched. An explanation of each discipline in engineering was given and videos were shown to help the students visualize what can really be done. Some of the videos included the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, robotic dogs, and rocket launches. Once the students had an idea of what engineers do they were given the chance to be the engineer. They were shown a non-Newtonian fluid and asked think about and try to explain the phenomenon.Next the 21 students were each given a 9x6” piece of tin foil and told to make a boat. The boat that held the most marbles before sinking won a small prize. After the activity the winning boat was analyzed an discussed to explain the reasoning for win. At the end of the presentation, the students were told about other opportunities and programs that they can get involved with in their local community.
InTech Collegiate High School
On January 26 and February 5, 2009, the team, with help from the USU Rocket Club, were able to explain basic rocket propulsion and the principles behind hybrid rockets and launch several hybrid caramel rockets. The Utah State University Experimental Sounding Rocket Club and ESRA are currently developing 2-liter bottle rockets that are hybrid rockets using gaseous oxygen in the bottle and caramel as the fuel. These rockets burn for approximately 6 seconds and can reach altitudes around 300 feet. The 51 students were first told about the Pike project and the USLI competition. Then the Rocket Club explained their hybrid project and the activity. The students were split into groups and given a surface area for the fins. They were told that they could make the fins any shape or have as many as they thought would best fit their rocket as long as they had a fin surface area of 12 square inches. Once the fins were cut out and attached to their motors, the students installed the injectors into the motors and sealed the forward motor caps. The rockets were checked for stability by balancing the rockets at their center of mass and spinning them around on a rope and seeing that they point nose-first. During the second session, the rockets were launched in a near by field. The students got a chance to inspect their motors after the flights. The most successful rocket flew straight up at approximately 300 feet but had a burn-through in the motor case due to increasing the pressure from 80 psi to 100 psi.
InTech Collegiate High School Rocket Club
At InTech this year their rocket club is participating in the Team America Rocketry Challenge 2009. For this competition the club must build a one stage rocket with a payload of an egg. The egg must survive the launch and reach an altitude of close to 750 feet. The rockets must be inspected before the launch and observed during flight by an National Association of Rocketry (NAR) official. Judging is based off safety and recovering the payload. For their qualification flight on March 7, 2009, two members of the Pike team, one who is NAR certified, attended the flight and judged the launches. Two rockets were flown that day, one of which was recovered successfully. <!--EndFragment-->
