Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2004

Contact: Lisa Merkl
713/743-8192 (office)
713/605-1757 (pager)

HOUSTON, March 12, 2004 – A far cry from the usual macaroni sculptures and sock puppets, the arts and crafts that students bring home from one University of Houston summer camp include robots and electronic jewelry.

A camp custom-made for high school girls who aspire to one day become engineers, the GRADE Camp (Girls Reaching and Demonstrating Excellence), hosted by UH’s Cullen College of Engineering, is a weeklong day camp designed to introduce participants to the marvels of engineering. Nearly four dozen high school students from around the Houston area converged on campus for last year’s camp. This year’s deadline for applications is April 1.

“GRADE Camp was too good for words,” said Kulsoom Shah, a freshman at Waltrip High School. “I learned a lot, and it’s useful in some of my courses. Camp turned out to be even more beneficial than I had expected it to be.”
With the assistance of engineering faculty and female engineering students as mentors, last year’s campers learned to design, build and program a LEGO® Robot to autonomously maneuver through a maze. By the end of camp, girls understood the engineering rationale and fundamentals behind the fun of building the actual robot.

“I showed the video of the robot my camp partner and I programmed, and people were amazed,” said Julie Anne Zell, a senior at Cy Fair Senior High School. “We even got invited to be in the Robotics Club.”

Learning at GRADE Camp is interactive and tactile. Last summer, for example, flashlights were outfitted with voltmeters and ammeters for campers to learn about voltage and current. After these sessions, they were invited to make jewelry out of transistors, electrical wires and circuits. The girls went home that day with necklaces, earrings and other creations made almost entirely of electrical components.

“They loved it,” said Sabiha Kazi, a Reagan High School teacher, when describing her students’ experiences at the camp. “All of them said that they now wanted to become engineers, that they learned so much and had a lot of fun.”

On the last day of camp, the girls were given the opportunity to present their projects to an audience of parents and teachers. Having a chance to display more than just their robots, the campers had been taught that communication skills are essential to an engineer’s work, as well as having learned about the skills necessary to give an effective presentation.

“They have an opportunity to meet other girls at camp who are good at math and science,” said Elizabeth Hendley, UH electrical engineering student and a camp mentor. “These girls will be lucky when they are trying to decide about colleges because they already know other women who identify with their desire to be engineers.”

Any girl who completes the program and chooses to major in engineering, natural sciences or mathematics her freshman year at UH will receive a one-time $1,000 tuition or book scholarship. The Cullen College of Engineering hosts the camp through grants from the National Science Foundation and the Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium.

“Grade camp offered those of us who were interested in solving the ‘problems of the world’ a deeper look into engineering,” said Traci Beard, a sophomore at Santa Fe High School. “I really enjoyed the camp and can’t wait to see how I can advance in my dream of becoming an engineer.”

The weeklong camps will run four times during the summer of 2004 (June 7-11, June 14-18, June 21-25 and June 28-July 2) and cost $200 for the week, which covers lunch, snacks, memorabilia and a celebration banquet where students can show off what they’ve learned to parents and their favorite teacher. For more information, including camp scholarship opportunities for those with financial needs, call 713-743-4460 or visit the camp Web site at http://www.egr.uh.edu/grade.

About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

About the Cullen College of Engineering
UH Cullen College of Engineering has produced five U.S. astronauts, ten members of the National Academy of Engineering, and degree programs that have ranked in the top ten nationally. With more than 2,200 students, the college offers accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, industrial, and mechanical engineering. It also offers specialized programs in aerospace, biomedical, materials, petroleum engineering and telecommunications.

For more information about the Cullen College of Engineering, visit http://www.egr.uh.edu

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