K-12 Update from The Citadel (Fall 2018)

November 28, 2018 in K-12 at The Citadel

Summer Camp on Multimodal Mobility, Connected Vehicles and Congestion Mitigation

Dr. Dimitra Michalaka (center) with a group of students participating in the Summer Camp on Multimodal Mobility, Connected Vehicles and Congestion Mitigation.

A 1-week summer camp on Multimodal Mobility, Connected Vehicles and Congestion Mitigation was held June 17-23, 2018, in Hartsville, S.C., organized by the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics (SCGSSM). During this event, Dr. Dimitra Michalaka, assistant professor at The Citadel, taught a one week ‘Tour of Engineering’ summer camp, which involved more than 6 hours a day in class at the SCGSSM to 17 rising 9th and 10th grade students.

A student working on one of the many activities related to the Summer Camp.

Topics covered included 1) What do engineers do; 2) Engineering discipline areas; 3) What are the necessary skills to be successful; 4) Types of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer/software engineering; 5) Sustainability, and more. Specifically in civil engineering, emphasis was given to bridge design and construction, and complete streets. Along with the concepts, students were involved with many hands-on activities. Students designed bridges using Bridge Designer 2018, constructed their bridge designs using K’nex, designed and built a complete street (street for all users), built autonomous vehicles using Lego Mindstorm EV3, and programmed vehicles to autonomously travel between complete street sections across their bridges. The fun didn’t stop there – students competed in activities like the spaghetti tower and vehicle racing.

On the last day of the camp, students presented a summary of what they had learned about engineering during the week-long event to an audience that included relatives, teachers, staff and other camp participants. What a fun week exploring the amazing world of transportation engineering! Dr. Michalaka wishes to thank SCGSSM, USDOT, the Center for Connected Multimodal Mobility (C2M2), the STRIDE Center, and the Citadel for making such efforts possible.

Introduction to Civil Engineering at The Citadel

This Fall 2018 semester, 28 groups of 5th graders from Richland Country Schools visited the Department of Civil Engineering at The Citadel to be introduced to civil engineering. The different civil engineering disciplines, including transportation engineering, were explained through presentations, discussions, and hands-on activities by Dr. Kweku Brown, Dr. Jeff Davis, Dr. Dimitra Michalaka and other faculty at The Citadel.