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The K-12 students that visited OSU DISCOVERY this summer were the first of many to partake in new opportunities for STEM outreach in the Oklahoma City area.

OSU DISCOVERY provides new opportunities and partnerships for STEM outreach

Monday, October 25, 2021

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Marketing Media Specialist | 405-744-2745 | jeff.hopper@okstate.edu

This summer, the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT) at Oklahoma State University hosted two of its 30 STEM camps at its OSU DISCOVERY building in Oklahoma City.

One of those camps, STEM in Oklahoma, was created specifically for DISCOVERY and OSU’s partners in the Oklahoma City area. The idea to partner on these efforts came in the spring of 2021 by the OSU DISCOVERY team and Baker Hughes, a key partner for OSU.

“Baker Hughes values the future of students in our community and actively works to promote STEM education where possible,” said Jason Angolano, Laboratory Operations Manager for Baker Hughes. “We want to educate kids about the amazing world that we live in through the eyes of science and help them understand that they can make a large impact in it. We reached out to other companies to highlight several careers where STEM is used and hopefully get the students excited about the opportunities that lay before them. Our partnership with OSU and the OSU DISCOVERY building enabled this camp to take place and truly brought everything together to make it a success”.

Baker Hughes sponsored the camp and developed a curriculum for a session during the camp. Other contributors to the STEM in Oklahoma camp were FSB Architects & Engineers, OSU’s Unmanned Systems Research Institute (USRI) and interns who also helped create and instruct sessions for the camp.

Baker Hughes focused on teaching the campers about different types of energy and how they can be stored and transformed. Their team assisted students in crafting trebuchets and mouse trap cars, which provided an interesting, hands-on learning experience for the campers.  

discovery egg drop
Members of the Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University helped students test egg protection apparatuses with the use of drones.

The team at USRI oversaw an egg drop competition. The students were tasked with designing and building contraptions that would keep an egg safe from breaking from varying heights. USRI incorporated their drones into the competition, using them to drop the projects from different heights throughout their session. 

FSB Architects and Engineers taught the campers about inclusive design and creating spaces for all types of people. Students learned how to problem solve by designing a park playground through hand sketches, building with blocks, and modeling on a 3D computer program. The students collaborated together in teams and presented their 3D computer designs to the rest of the camp. They were able to save their work on a flash drive to develop their designs at home and even 3D print their playground if they chose to do so.

The last day of camp was designated for the students to interact with industry representatives through a Q&A session in the morning. This provided the campers the opportunity to spend time learning about their industry “mentors” through the engineers’ experience. The afternoon consisted of Baker Hughes and OSU helping the campers build cars and compete in races.

“It was an encouragement to see this partnership benefitting both the students and industry professionals,” said the OSU DISCOVERY team. “We are fulfilling our mission already and couldn’t be happier.”

OSU, Baker Hughes, and FSB hope to continue this camp each year and would love to see it grow with the help of other partners in the OKC metro.

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