CLU looks to teens for future engineers

By Marjorie Hernandez, Ventura County Star
Sunday, May 13, 2007

Johns Hopkins University has expanded its local course offerings to high school students interested in engineering.

The introductory engineering courses, which will be taught at California Lutheran University and CSU Channel Islands, will begin this summer and are open to juniors and seniors, said Bob Rumer, the program's western regional manager.

The course, "What Is Engineering?," focuses on digital electronics, robot control, chemical engineering, thermodynamics and other aspects of engineering.

Johns Hopkins offered the courses at CSUCI last year and decided to expand its classes this year to the east side of the county at CLU.

"We are really pleased with how it went last year, and we wanted to give that opportunity for more students," Rumer said. "It is a rigorous course, and the students need to know some algebra and trigonometry for the class. But it's also going to be fun. The goal is to show how relevant engineering is to solve real world problems."

CLU will offer the course four days a week from June 25 to July 26. The course at CSUCI will be held five mornings per week from July 9 to Aug. 3.

Students will receive transferable college credits from Johns Hopkins. There are still spots available at both campuses, Rumer said.

Tuition for the course is $1,700, and scholarships are available for students who qualify at http://engineering-innovation.jhu.edu.

The course will also be offered at CSU Los Angeles, CSU Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara, Pasadena City College and University of Pacific, Rumer said.

Applied science courses are instrumental in exposing students to a possible career in math, science and engineering, county educators said.

According to the Journal of Engineering Education, the number of undergraduate degrees in engineering has dropped nationally since the mid-1980s. The proportion of engineering degrees earned by women and minority students continues to be significantly less than their representation in the general population.

Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis said applied science courses could help attract a variety of students who might not have considered a career in science.

"One of our growth areas in Ventura County is new technologies," Weis said. "This is probably the most technologically advanced generation, and, I think, one of the benefits of applied science is that they retain the material better and are excited about it."

Half a dozen students in Cal Lutheran's Upward Bound program have already received scholarships for the course, said Christine Opzeeland, academic skills coordinator for Upward Bound/Math-Science at CLU.

Upward Bound is a federally funded program for low-income high school students who are the first generation of their family raised in the United States.

Last year, CLU Upward Bound students had the opportunity to take the Johns Hopkins course at CSUCI.

"It was really eye-opening for them," Opzeeland said. "They thought it was really challenging, and it was a good opportunity for them to see what engineering is made up of."
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© 2007 Ventura County Star