Inspiring Future Engineers

A few days ago, we received a letter from Let's Talk Science, a Canadian charitable organization focused on creating and delivering science learning programs for children and youth. Through fun, hands-on and minds-on activities, these programs help turn the young generation on to science and show them the connection between science and real life.

Let's Talk Science depends heavily on the help of volunteers - students, scientists and engineers who bring science to life of kids and youth. In the letter, the President of the organization, Dr. Bonnie Schmidt, thanked two Quanser engineers - Cameron Fulford and Sunny Ray, who volunteered their free time and participated in several activities, such as a high school career panel or the science fair. Schmidt wrote "Sunny and Cameron are important role models for young Canadians and have made significant impact on the youth they have reached."

At the OCE Discovery 2009 conference, Let's Talk Science presented an interactive earthquake simulation using Quanser's Shake Table I-40.

And they are not the only engineers from the Quanser team who help excite young kids about science and technology. In one of our previous blogs we mentioned Jacob Apkarian, Quanser's Founder and CTO and Michel Levis visited a Toronto elementary school, and Quanser's Heidi Wight spoke to girls at a high school workshop.

Dr. Jacob Apkarian, Quanser's Founder and CTO demonstrates how electricity in our body can be used to make artificial limbs move.

We also hear a lot about outreach activities of universities: Cornell University's Dr. Ingraffea participated in a High Jump program. High school students built structures which were tested for earthquake resistance on Quanser's Shake Table. Other Quanser systems can be used for outreach activities - contact our Academic Solutions Advisors at info@quanser.com to learn more.

The earthquake engineering experience High Jump Program students got at Cornell motivates many to pursue careers in science and engineering.