Inspiring future engineering students

Binghamton University will host a Feb. 27 event offering many activities for kids to help them discover engineering

VESTAL — Tossing raw eggs from 30 feet high isn’t directly synonymous with engineering, but the students at Binghamton University tend to disagree. 

The egg drop — in which raw eggs encased in hand-crafted structures are let go from a height of about three stories high — is one of the most popular events at the university’s yearly Community Day. On Feb. 27, the university will host its 7th annual day of hands-on activities for prospective students and local community members to discover engineering and see what it’s all about.

David Berman, assistant to the dean at Binghamton’s Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, says the event serves as the closing bookend to the university’s ode to National Engineers Week. The Watson School, which had 1,921 enrolled students as of the 2013-14 academic year, showcases its modern technical facility and recruits potential students. One way of doing that is encouraging first graders to toss uncooked eggs inside the building.

“The egg drop is always a popular event,” Berman says, adding that other activities like building raw spaghetti towers, using lemons to create a battery, and constructing LEGO creations also draw interest. “Kids are building containers and then dropping the eggs from high up and seeing which ones survive — it’s fun.”

Community Day starts at 10 a.m. and runs until 3 p.m., with pizza served for lunch. Held inside the school’s Innovative Technology Complex, located at 85 Murray Hill Road in Vestal, the event is free and open to the public — no prior registration or specific age required. 

“There will be different activities set up all over the building and there will be maps everywhere,” Berman says. “This year, we’re putting recommended ages on all the activities. Anyone can go to any activity, but we’re trying to have it as a guide.”

The school has celebrated National Engineers Week with a community-centered event since 2009, Berman says. This is his first year as organizer, and he expects the turnout to exceed last year’s record crowd of 500-plus people. More than two-thirds of attendees are between the ages of 5 and 15, and most of the activities are run by college students.

Watson students engage with the kids
Ami Bhavsar, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering at the Watson School, says this is her second year taking part in Community Day. As president of Binghamton University’s chapter of the international mechanical engineering honor society, Pi Tau Sigma, she says that engaging with the community both on-campus and off, has been important to her this year. 

“It’s all geared toward motivating students in science and engineering,” Bhavsar says. “A lot of people don’t necessarily have a creative outlet. It’s cool to provide that — both for the kids in the community and the adults.”

Bhavsar estimated that more than 100 college students volunteered at Community Day last year. During last year’s event, Bhavsar helped a young boy build a popsicle-stick bridge, and she remembers his vivid thought process while he was coming up with the design.

“He was young — they haven’t learned basic physics yet at his age. I asked him what his ideas were and he looked at it and said, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll try triangles,’ ” Bhavsar says. “It was really cool to see him go through the creative process by trial and error, and from straight intuition.”

Tremayne Stewart, a senior majoring in computer engineering at Binghamton, says that an event like Community Day would have benefited him greatly at a young age.

Growing up in Queens, he didn’t have access to engineering-oriented activities through school and had to create his own.

“I wanted to build robots since I was like eight or something. I was the kid that took apart everything,” Stewart says. Clocks, radios, cell phones — anything with voltage was subject to being torn apart, and the remains of what once might have been an appliance were often left mangled until he learned how to reassemble them. 

His mom wasn’t always happy about that, he says.

“I know for me, it was a lot of self-exploration,” Stewart says. “I feel like not having exposure to engineering can be a very big detriment. There are those kids out there that want to engage in those activities, but just don’t have the outlet.”

Berman says Binghamton University takes youth interest into account when planning Community Day activities. Demonstrations of 3D-printing pens, industrial multicopters (similar to drones) and instructions on how to make hoop gliders — a new take on the paper airplane that uses a straw and paper rings — were added to the agenda this year.

The university doesn’t profit from the event financially, but has something to gain from community engagement, Berman says.

“It’s about showcasing the school and what students are doing,” he notes. “And it’s about outreach to the local community.”

For Stewart, the best part is watching creativity take hold in each kid’s mind. The college students might think of one way to accomplish a task — maybe referring to techniques they have learned in their studies — only to look over and see a 9-year-old has done it better. 

“It’s pretty cool because you get to foster this curiosity into the engineering world — into children — and they don’t actually realize that they’re learning about gravity or friction,” Stewart says. “They get so into it and you can’t take them away from it — and that’s kind of amazing.”