Southern A&M University News May 21, 2011 Southern University, Scotlandville Magnet win science, math contest Southern University engineering majors partnered with Scotlandville Magnet High School students to win a science, technology, engineering, and math competition held recently at the University of New Orleans. Southern and Scotlandville also won the grand prize at the event. Southern was one of five Louisiana-based universities competing May 14th in the nationally-acclaimed K-12 educational awareness program called Viva Technology. Other competing schools included, Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, Xavier University and Dillard University. The other participating high schools were Eleanor McMain Secondary School, McDonogh 35 High School, Sophie B. Wright Charter School and Warren Easton High School, all from the New Orleans area. The Shell Oil Company and Great Minds in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) partnered to create the team-based competition. The Great Minds organization, which hosted the event, focuses on STEM subjects to encourage students to pursue degrees and future careers in STEM fields. Students competed in two activities designed to involve all team members and reinforce the engineering design process. Using materials like PVC, fish line, nuts and bolts, etc., teams designed and built several wind turbines blades that generated power with the aid of an electric fan. The goal of the challenge was to design an effective rotor blade and to lift a significant amount of weight in a short time. In the second activity, the "Paper House Challenge," students used materials such as newspaper and masking tape to build a paper dwelling that housed at least one student. This challenge helped students learn geometry principles, the importance of load distribution, and material efficiency. Students also learned about renewable energy initiatives while competing in both activities. The eight-member Scotlandville Magnet team, that partnered with Southern, received Netbook computers and the four Southern students earned $1,000 scholarships for winning first place. For the grand prize, Southern and Scotlandville will share a $5,000 prize to support STEM activities. All Southern participants will also receive travel and registration expenses to the Great Minds and STEM conference and career fair in Orlando, Fla., later this year. The Southern students included: mechanical engineering majors, Tajh Williams, Alysson Combest, Maisha Robinson, Krista Pennington, Jemela McKinzy and Jude Mgbanwunne; electrical engineering major Chelsea Celestine; and civil engineering major Jasmin Richardson. The SU students were accompanied by Dr. Edgar Blevins, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Reynaud Henton, assistant professor of electronics engineering technology and Janifer Peters, assistant to the dean of the College of Engineering. Viva Technology is Great Minds in STEM's National K-12 STEM Education Awareness Program. It is designed to engage students, parents and teachers in activities that stimulate their interest in the applications of technology and provide a STEM career-focused path to higher education. It also helps students understand the correlation between their math and science studies and careers in technology. It also included a teacher/parent element on why encouraging student interest in math and science positively impacts children's futures and what STEM career opportunities lay ahead for graduates in these disciplines. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.