Workshops Offered During 2022 CAEE Summer Institute!
- In summer of 2022, this camp ran from August 8th to August 12th from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- Each workshop session was attended by 30 high school students with a number of Drexel faculty, staff and teaching assistants.
- Workshops took place in-person at the Innovation Studio and other labs in the CAEE Department.
Photos from 2022 Workshops
2022 Workshops and Field Trips
Day One
Egg Drop Competition
Instructor: Gabe Grajewski and Sebastian Aucca (with Professor Michael Waring, Professor Miguel Pando, Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad and Leslie Melecio)
Campers were given a lesson on the egg drop competition objectives, rules, and physics! Campers were placed in groups of three and given 30 minutes to design a prototype to protect their eggs. Campers dropped their prototypes from the second and third floor of the Main Building to compete for the first prize!
Introduction to Civil Engineering
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando and KIM Iqbal
Campers were introduced to what civil engineers do and it's different subdisciplines including structural engineering, bridge engineering, geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering, water resources, hydraulic engineering, construction materials engineering, and sustainable engineering.
Introduction to Structural Engineering
Instructor: Professor Ivan Bartoli
Campers learned what civil engineers that specialize in structural engineering do. They learned basic concepts and definitions related to structures such as structural failure, equilibrium, applied loads., structural members, objectives of structural design, and structural materials.
Structural Beam Activity
Instructor: Professor Ivan Bartoli and Professor Miguel Pando
Campers learned about the key factors controlling beam behavior such as load, beam span, beam characteristics (material, stiffness, dimensions), and tested beam behavior when influenced by load, span length and beam.
Day Two
Introduction to Architectural Engineering
Instructor: Michael Waring
Professor Michael Waring introduced students to what architectural engineering is and introduced its concentrations in structural, mechanical or digital building engineering.
Wall Design: Heat In Motion
Instructor: Gabe Grajewski (with Professor Michael Waring, Bryan Berman, Professor Miguel Pando, Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Students were introduced to the basic of heat transfer as well as materials and thickness. They then explored design strategies for building envelopes, focusing on energy savings. They built wall sections using different types of insulating materials and measured the change in temperature from one side of the wall to the other.
Let's Care About Air: How You Understand Air Quality In Your Community
Instructor: Bryan Berman, Gabe Grajewski, Professor Michael Waring (with Professor Miguel Pando, Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Campers were given a lesson on air quality and how pollutants can affect how clean the air is. They were also introduced to date on how COVID-10 interacts with the air we breathe. After the lesson, the students used a tool called the Aranet4, a battery-operated handheld sensor that spot checks CO2 levels every five minutes, as well as temperature, RH, and pressure. For the following three days, campers collected CO2 data from the locations they visited during their daily routine and recorded in a personal notebook, date, time, photo, and/or description of the location, sources of pollution, and ventilation, every three hours if possible, or at least three times a day.
Concrete Mixing and Sample Prep - Part 1
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando and Robin Deb (with Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Each group of campers prepared a set of concrete cylinders using specific design mixes. Following the production of freshly mixed concrete, specimens of the concrete were cast and vibrated in cylinders.
Popsicle Bridge Competition Building
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando (with Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Campers were put into groups of three and started to design their bridges for the bridge competition on day five.
Day Three
Site Visit to Highway Materials Inc.
Students took a bus trip to Highway Materials Inc., a producer of hot mix asphalt, crushed stone, and sand for the heavy highway construction industry. While there, they got to visit the quarry and see a blast!
Environmental Engineering Jar Test Lab
Instructor: Professor Barnes Bierck (with Mikaela Surace, Professor Michael Waring, Professor Miguel Pando, Kim Spina, Gabe Grajewski, Ali Rahmaninezhad, and Leslie Melecio)
During this workshop, campers were introduced to environmental jar testing, which simulates three-full scale water treatment processes for removing particles from water through coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation. They learned that jar testing is used to treat chemicals and mixing conditions work best.
Popsicle Wood Bridge Competition
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando (with Professor Michael Waring, Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
During this workshop, campers continued building bridges in their groups.
Day Four
Introduction to Environmental Engineering
Instructor: Professor Chris Sales
Campers were introduced what environmental engineering is and its many subdisciplines including water quality engineering, water resource engineering, outdoor and indoor air quality engineering, ocean engineering, hazardous waste management, sustainable engineering, groundwater engineering and management, and sustainable engineering.
Introduction to Library Resources
Instructor: Mr. Jay Bhatt
Campers were introduced to how to find information for research sprint projects.
Concrete Lab - Part 2
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando and Robin Deb (with Sebastian Aucca and Kim Spina)
Campers retrieved the cylinders they made while mixing concrete two days earlier, computed density of each test specimen, and the cross section, so that they could compute the compressive strength. After solving their equations, each team tested their cylinders in a Compression Loading Machine.
Water Filtration Lab
Instructor: Professor Chris Sales (with Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Campers received a lesson on water filtration and its current use in preventing disease and promoting health. They used iPads to search for literature and collected information on water filtration. Campers then made their own water filters and tested them! Afterwards, they wrote and drew a graphical abstract about what they learned about water filtration.
Field Trip to Academy of Natural Sciences
Campers walked over to the ANS and received a behind-the-scenes look at how things work and are curated!
Popsicle Bridge Competition Building
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando (with Professor Michael Waring, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
During this workshop, campers continued building bridges in their groups.
Day Five
Self-Healing Concrete
Instructor: Professor Chris Sales and Mohammad Houshmand Khaneghahi (with Professor Miguel Pando, Professor Michael Waring, Kim Spina, Bryan Berman, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Campers became familiar with the concept of bio-self-healing such as how bacteria can produce calcium carbonate to heal the cracks. Campers explored the conditions that are required for bacteria to produce calcium carbonate. They also learned how to find and download scientific, trustworthy information from accredited websites. They performed searches in peer-reviewed literature resources to learn more about the bio-self-healing process. Afterwards, they conducted experiments to produce calcium carbonate in the liquid phase and on the surface of the concrete to heal the cracks. Finally, they reported their findings and observations as a graphical abstract.
AE Air Quality Data Analyses
Instructor: Professor Michael Waring and Bryan Berman (with Professor Miguel Pando, Kim Spina, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Campers shared the data they collected over three days using the Aranet4 sensors.
Popsicle Bridge Competition
Instructor: Professor Miguel Pando and Professor Michael Waring (with Kim Spina, Bryan Berman, Ali Rahmaninezhad, Sebastian Aucca, Gabe Grajewski and Leslie Melecio)
Groups competed with each other in a popsicle bridge competition.