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Date August 27, 2024
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Photos: Incoming students get step up in engineering pre-orientation program

With an emphasis on community and inclusion, the inaugural Brown Summer Transition Engineering Program is preparing incoming undergraduates to thrive in engineering before their studies officially begin.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —  While every student’s journey leading up to their Brown education is unique, a new pre-orientation program aims to make sure incoming engineering students are all on the same page.

The Brown Summer Transition Engineering Program, or STEP, invites first-year students to learn more about engineering, engage with various support resources on campus, build community with one another and strengthen necessary academic skills before the semester officially kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 4.

In the program's inaugural cohort this year, 77 students took part in six weeks of remote instruction. Of those 77 students, 23 chose to participate in STEP's residency option, where they settled into Brown’s campus on Monday, Aug. 19, for a week of specialized cohort-building activities, said Megan Russell, program director and associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the School of Engineering.

“We have people from all over the world coming together for a single, unifying purpose, and that’s to build engineering excellence across the University and into their lives,” Russell said.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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Brown Summer Transition Engineering Program participants Alicia Chen, far left, and Ohemaa Sarpong, far right, work with Brown Ph.D. candidate Madeline Federle to launch balls out of PVC tubing under compressed air.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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The cohort cheered as a squash ball launched from a tube during an engineering experiment.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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To cap off six weeks of remote instruction, members of the inaugural STEP cohort spent a week on campus conducting engineering experiments in the lab and socializing with peers.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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Rishi Rai and Maribel Sanchez work together to load balls into the compressed air PVC cannon under the supervision of Brown sophomore and project assistant Kelvin Amankwaa, left.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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Using high-speed cameras, students were able to make images — like the one presented here by Brown Ph.D. candidate Mithun Ravisankar — and measure the distortions of the balls as they launched out of tubes and hit a wall.

Students launch balls through PVC tube and capture images with high speed camera
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From left, STEP participants Mohammad Ariesh Qanit, Katie Xiang and Emilia Barck work with Brown Professor of Engineering — and noted squash enthusiast — Roberto Zenit, center, on an experiment using squash balls.

In addition to brushing up on key mathematical concepts and delving into problem-solving exercises that engineers are likely to encounter during the first year of studies at Brown, STEP participants have the opportunity to meet their future professors, attend office hours and receive training on how to cultivate a growth mindset, hone study skills and practice effective communication styles.

But it’s not all homework. Students also participate in social events and field trips, like a recent trip to Newport, where the cohort toured Gilded Age mansions and discussed how engineers were able to develop such elaborate architecture.

“We’re really trying to cultivate the whole engineer, the future engineering leaders of our society — not just someone who can apply equations,” Russell said.  

A Brown Class of 2011 alumna, Russell said that developing a pre-orientation program that specifically caters to students interested in engineering has been a goal of hers since she was a student herself.

“There are technical challenges around the world, and in order to become the change makers who are leading cutting-edge research and innovating technology for our society, you really have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Russell said. “It’s important to get familiar with the feeling of, ‘I don’t know this yet, but I’m going to persevere and be resourceful about how to find out.'”

Tags
Diversity and Inclusion School of Engineering The College

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