STEM Spotlight on Center for Advanced Manufacturing

October 16, 2017
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Manufacturing Opportunities at the STEM Spotlight

Manufacturing focuses on making things, while educators tend to emphasize making opportunities, and the two outcomes occurred simultaenously this month at the USC Viterbi STEM Spotlight on the Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) on National Manufacturing Day, October 6, 2017. Coming all the way from Desert Junior-Senior High School near Edwards Air Base and also from Lynwood, California, two ambitious groups of students visited the first annual Open House of USC Viterbi's new CAM. CAM Director SK Gupta greeted the students as he and over a dozen of his colleagues and Ph.D. students offered hands-on demonstrations throughout the afternoon of the sophisticated manufacturing techniques being developed in this research laboratory.

The Scorpion Robotics Team of Desert Junior-Senior High School showed amazement at the 3D metal printer and all the dozen or more displays. There aren't many opportunities to get a hug and a selfie from a bright red robot, like Joshua P. did (see photo, left), or to hang out with someone like Professor Gupta, who encouraged everyone to ask questions. The Scorpions were not shy about their enthusiasm.

Coach Ana (Ana Franco, an electrical engineer at Edwards Air Force Base), mentors the Scorpion Robotics Team along with her husband. In fact, it is parents like Coach Ana who drove their children two hours each way to USC to learn about manufacturing. Coach Ana said: "Seeing the research lab was a really exciting experience for my robotics students and me. To see the human-sized red robot right when we entered the room got us all excited about robotics. To see the student faces full of wonder, excitement and inspiration was worth making the trip out to USC. The robotics students had lots of fun and their exposure to advanced robotics made a lasting impression."

Additionally, 25 girls from Lynwood High School and Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School also visited CAM, part of Lynwood Unified School District's commitment to opening STEM opportunities for girls. David Ramirez shared about the District's work building the student organizations, including Society of Women Engineers - Next and Society for Hispanic Engineers. Lynwood Unified alumni have helped build ties to these organizations, which also inspired several of these alumni to study and graduate from USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The District began an annual Girls STEM Conference in 2016 and has seen substantial growth in the number of girls in their engineering classes. Because several of their female graduates are now studying at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the district have quite a pipeline of mentors here at USC; the district also has a collaboration with Cerritos College for dual enrollment classes as well as special certificates in engineering and manufacturing. Mr. Ramirez notes: "I believe that we have a shortage of engineers in this country because students in elementary, middle and high school are not exposed to engineering as well as engineering careers, and hopefully with a little effort we will be able to change that."

At USC Viterbi Adopt-a-Student, Adopt-a-Teacher (VAST), the research-based component of USC Viterbi’s STEM outreach, we agree 100% with Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Franco -- our vision is to inspire students, teachers, and parents with the creativity and social benefits of research in science, technology, engineering, and math. Students on a STEM pathway can manufacture a good future for themselves and their families. That's an opportunity we work hard to foster.

Manufacturing Opportunities at the STEM Spotlight

Manufacturing focuses on making things, while educators tend to emphasize making opportunities, and the two outcomes occurred simultaenously this month at the USC Viterbi STEM Spotlight on the Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) on National Manufacturing Day, October 6, 2017. Coming all the way from Desert Junior-Senior High School near Edwards Air Base and also from Lynwood, California, two ambitious groups of students visited the first annual Open House of USC Viterbi’s new CAM. CAM Director SK Gupta greeted the students as he and over a dozen of his colleagues and Ph.D. students offered hands-on demonstrations throughout the afternoon of the sophisticated manufacturing techniques being developed in this research laboratory.

The Scorpion Robotics Team of Desert Junior-Senior High School showed amazement at the 3D metal printer and all the dozen or more displays. There aren’t many opportunities to get a hug and a selfie from a bright red robot, like Joshua P. did (see photo, left), or to hang out with someone like Professor Gupta, who encouraged everyone to ask questions. The Scorpions were not shy about their enthusiasm.

Coach Ana (Ana Franco, an electrical engineer at Edwards Air Force Base), mentors the Scorpion Robotics Team along with her husband. In fact, it is parents like Coach Ana who drove their children two hours each way to USC to learn about manufacturing. Coach Ana said: “Seeing the research lab was a really exciting experience for my robotics students and me. To see the human-sized red robot right when we entered the room got us all excited about robotics. To see the student faces full of wonder, excitement and inspiration was worth making the trip out to USC. The robotics students had lots of fun and their exposure to advanced robotics made a lasting impression.”

Additionally, 25 girls from Lynwood High School and Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School also visited CAM, part of Lynwood Unified School District’s commitment to opening STEM opportunities for girls. David Ramirez shared about the District’s work building the student organizations, including Society of Women Engineers – Next and Society for Hispanic Engineers. Lynwood Unified alumni have helped build ties to these organizations, which also inspired several of these alumni to study and graduate from USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The District began an annual Girls STEM Conference in 2016 and has seen substantial growth in the number of girls in their engineering classes. Because several of their female graduates are now studying at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the district have quite a pipeline of mentors here at USC; the district also has a collaboration with Cerritos College for dual enrollment classes as well as special certificates in engineering and manufacturing. Mr. Ramirez notes: “I believe that we have a shortage of engineers in this country because students in elementary, middle and high school are not exposed to engineering as well as engineering careers, and hopefully with a little effort we will be able to change that.”

At USC Viterbi Adopt-a-Student, Adopt-a-Teacher (VAST), the research-based component of USC Viterbi’s STEM outreach, we agree 100% with Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Franco — our vision is to inspire students, teachers, and parents with the creativity and social benefits of research in science, technology, engineering, and math. Students on a STEM pathway can manufacture a good future for themselves and their families. That’s an opportunity we work hard to foster.

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Published on October 16th, 2017

Last updated on March 24th, 2022


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