Engineering and Science Summer Institute
The Engineering and Science Summer Institute (ESSI) has been offered each summer for the last 45 years. ESSI's purpose is to create an opportunity for high school student to learn about engineering, as well as physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. Various lectures and labs are offered by KSU faculty during this five day Institute to illustrate some of the problems and challenges that face our country in the next several decades. This program is designed to aid the student in determining his/her interests both in college and beyond. The morning sessions focus on career discovery with the students learning about various engineering and science disciplines. The afternoon sessions provide a time to focus on one discipline in more detail using laboratory experience. In addition, there are opportunities for attendees to learn about leadership and campus life.
The ESSI program also offers an opportunity for elementary and secondary school teachers to learn about current issues related to engineering and computer science, as well as physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. These training sessions are facilitated by K-State faculty and provide information and materials for use in preparing STEM instructional plans for the teacher's classrooms. This program is also designed to aid teachers in helping students determine their interests in college and beyond.
The ESSI program addresses the education requirements of broader impacts and has a well established recruitment network. The ESSI program can be tied into your proposal by including funding in your budget to sponsor one or more ESSI students for the summer program as well as by you and/or other members of your research team agreeing to prepare and teach part of the one week curriculum. The latter would include information relevant to your research. The teacher training portion of the program can be similarly included. For more information about this program, contact Tom Roberts, Assistant Dean, College of Engineering at tcr@ksu.edu.