Engineering Outreach: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow [SP Education]

This article discusses the current landscape of outreach efforts in the United States to engage K-12 students in engineering. It then provides an overview of two programs run by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education at Stony Brook University (SBU) to promote student participation and interest in engineering. These efforts are aligned with the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which emphasize incorporating engineering design principles in K-12 science education. We describe two models, one in the form of an on-campus summer camp and the other as a series of after-school activities with both on-and off-campus offerings. These experiences are rarely available in K-12 schools and have the added benefit of exposing students to engineering faculty and researchers. The programs are focused on electrical and computer engineering with emphasis on signal and information processing and analysis and have hosted more than 200 students for the past six years.