College of Engineering Welcomes High School Students for 2025 Summer Engineering Institute
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From July 14th to July 25th, the UMass Amherst College of Engineering welcomed 63 high school students who participated in the 2025 Summer Engineering Institute (SENGI).
SENGI allows students to explore how engineers envision creative, practical solutions that benefit the everyday lives of people and the communities in which they live. Through faculty presentations, guided discovery, and hands-on design activities, students learn about numerous topics and applications within biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, and mechanical engineering.
This year, one of the mini-labs leveraged the MIE Junior Year Laboratory space with the help of Joseph Condon, Lab Manager for Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Students designed and tested crash barriers out of card stock, aiming to reduce the force of impact not just for one but also subsequent impacts.
In another mini-lab, based on the work of the Fluid-Structure Interactions Lab led by MIE Professor Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi, students participating in SENGI tried their hand at Kirigami. They were assisted by PhD student Adrian Carleton. Students first tested their designs in air flow, and some were then able to visit the FSI Lab to test in the water flume.
Students also learned about 2D - 3D visualization. They developed 2D renderings of simple houses, transferred the designs to AutoCAD, and laser cut their designs from chipboard leveraging the UMass Campus Makerspace. After constructing their houses, selecting insulation to place between the inner and outer walls, they tested them. The data the collected enabled them to calculate the thermal resistance of their walls and the thermal conductivity of their selected insulation material using our testing platforms.
Civil Engineering faculty member Kara Peterman challenged SENGI students to design a cantilever to hold 1/4 pound of pennies at least 18 inches above the ground. They had limited supplies consisting of 10 pieces paper, 12 pairs of chopsticks, 10 paper clips, 2 - 16 oz cups, 12 feet of string, up to 3 cups of gravel, and a roll of scotch tape.
"Wind ball" was designed by Mechanical Engineering PhD student Peter Schimpf, who is also an ELEVATE fellow. After introducing students to the basics of how wind turbines work and the power equation for conversion of kinetic energy to electrical energy, Schimpf broke the students into teams, and the team that generated the most power following the wind ball rules won.
One of the unique parts of SENGI is that the students have the opportunity to work each afternoon on a more in-depth project in College of Engineering research labs. Students in the Brew, Build, and Test your Own Bio-Cellulose Water Filter worked in the Schiffman Lab under the guidance of Chemical Engineering PhD student Louise (Luying) He. They fermented, built, and validated a bio-cellulose filter of their own design they could take home.
Another SENGI group project was led by Biomedical Engineering PhD student Pritom Chowdhury in the 2D Bioelectronics Lab of faculty member Dmitry Kireev. In the EMG Signal Controlled Robotic Hand project, students built a robotic hand controlled by EMG signals and designed to replicate normal hand gestures.
In all, there were 15 SENGI in-depth projects led by graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty, which also included 3D-Printed Bionic Hand for Rock-Paper-Scissors, led by Biomedical Engineering PhD student Bown Lei, leveraging the UMass Campus Makerspace; DIY Biodiesel, led by Chemical Engineering PhD student Lasisi Balogun, leveraging the Chemical Engineering teaching lab;, and Underwater Trubine System Design, led by Mechanical Engineering M.S. graduate student Celina Ricaurte, leveraging the UMass Ocean Resources and Renewable Energy Lab. On the last day, the project teams presented what they accomplished.
