UW Engineering Open House

Lisa Stewart and Scott Bellman, DO-IT Staff

Once again, the UW's College of Engineering Open House was a huge success. More than 7,500 parents, students, and teachers from Washington and neighboring states were in attendance, including many DO-IT Scholars who took time to explore the future of engineering and science! There were more than 125 exhibits from UW engineering departments and outreach programs. Exciting hands-on activities included a giant wind tunnel, robotic cars, a lesson in aerodynamics and paper science through the assembly of paper airplanes, and virtual technology stations.

DO-IT hosted both an informational booth and an assistive technology demonstration area where we were a big hit with our Braille machine, our wheelchair computer game, screen-reading software demo, and head mouse solitaire game. Participants in DO-IT's AccessSTEM project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (grant #HRD_0227995 and #HRD-0833504) also had a chance to socialize and network with engineering faculty and students.

The Engineering Open House gets better each year, offering students a taste of the many dynamic fields available in engineering. For more information consult www.engr.washington.edu/alumcomm/openhouse.html.