Students from the Urbana Middle School Summer Math Academy met up with volunteers from ENVISION and POETS to take advantage of some summer weather on the Bardeen Quad on Tuesday.
The kids, with some help from volunteers, built solar powered cars and raced them along the sidewalk. Armed with calculators, they were able to calculate their car’s speed and as they raced along the pavement.
Although the sun hid from time to time, and there were some incidents of loose wheels, the sun came out long enough to power their cars and there were plenty of helping hands to walk them through their worksheets.
ENVISION, an outreach program created by MechSE graduate students Ashley Armstrong and Matt Milner, aims at giving elementary and middle school students a chance for hands on STEM learning.
POETS, or Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems, is an international research center aimed and increasing the power density of current mobile electrified systems, but also emphasizes and helps with STEM outreach for young students.