Spreading the Green Word: The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Reaches Out

By Susan Grant, High School Liaison Officer, The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dani Couture

In 2007, The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) received funding through Ontario Research Fund and Ministry of Research and Innovation grants, a portion of which was earmarked for youth outreach. Through the government funding, the Department hired two ECE students, Bryan Chan and Michelle Zeng, to do high school outreach to grade 10 students.

This year, in response to the growing public concern regarding global warming, and with the generous assistance of professors and graduate students in the Faculty, the outreach program created a class for the grade 10 students that showcases the alternate and green energy research within our Faculty.

The idea of creating a presentation on alternate energy came from Dr. Nazir Kherani whose area of expertise is in Solar Energy. Dr. Kherani also created a new Summer DEEP program on Solar Energy. The one-week course will be offered to high school students this July.

"We want the students to think about Engineering, the wide variety of career paths open to them as Engineers and to encourage them to not drop their math and science courses," said Susan Grant, High School Liaison Officer for the Department. “The ultimate goal of the visits is to get high school students thinking about their future.”

An Interview with Michelle Zeng

How did you become involved with the program?

"[Bryan and I] heard about this position through an email from Susan Grant regarding two openings for the positions. We have both worked with high school kids and given plenty of presentations, so we thought it would be a fun opportunity."

How many schools are you scheduled to visit?

"We're planning to cover about 20 schools, basically following the schedule of one school per day, each day consisting of visiting several classes within that school."

Can you summarize your presentation; its focus?

"Our presentation focuses on the topic of clean energy. The issue of global warming/sustainability is growing into more of a concern as time progresses, and we think it's important to fully inform the next
generation. Since 'sustainability' will not be a brand new concept to high school students, we will be expanding on this by providing statistics to show the severity of the problem, and also introduce the solutions that are currently being explored, including wind and solar energy as well as hydrogen fuels. To make things interesting, we have a few gadgets to demonstrate some of these clean energy methods.

Another goal for our high school visits is to raise the awareness among high school students about what a versatile field Engineering really is. We want to get the message across that Engineering isn't just pure physics and math, it is a much broader discipline with endless opportunities, including business, biomedical, as well as areas dedicated to finding clean energy solutions."

Why are were you interested in this project?

"Bryan and I are both graduating from U of T this year, which ends our career as undergraduate students. Having truly enjoyed our experience here, we want to spread the word to the next generation of prospective students, and supply them with all the information they need to make a wise decision regarding their post-secondary education. We think we have both the knowledge of the program, as well as the advantage of being at the right age to appeal to these kids. Also, we thought it'd be fun to go back and visit our own high schools and see our old teachers."

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