Inspiring the next STEM professionals

Following a semester of extracurricular activities through the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, high school juniors participating in the Idaho Science and Aerospace Scholars program visited the University of Idaho’s campus Monday to tour campus labs, learn from faculty and build air-powered rockets.

The event invites ISAS students to learn more about fields related to science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM. It is one of three similar summer capstone events in the state.

The director of the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium and an associate professor in the UI College of Engineering, Matt Bernards, said additional online coursework students complete during their junior year of high school qualifies them to participate in the events. Top performing students among the program get to visit the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California later this summer.

“We’re really just trying to inspire them to pursue a STEM-based career,” Bernards said. “This program, while it’s funded by the state, has very strong support from the College of Engineering and the College of Science here at UI.”

To start Monday’s visit, he said students participated in the so-called “marshmallow challenge,” an exercise to get them acquainted with their peers and comfortable working on a team.

The students then toured campus, stopping at various engineering and science labs to see some of the ongoing research and connect with faculty members. Later, they were placed in groups and tasked with building air-powered rocket launch systems in anticipation of NASA’s Space Launch System — a first step toward returning humans to the moon.

Pariticpating students were provided supplies to build two different rocket launch prototypes to test to see how design impacts performance; and time permitting, they could also build a third system to be used in a small competition at the end of the event, Bernards said.

Some of the students hailed from Moscow, Lewiston and Boise, although a few who signed up didn’t make it because of the rainy weather.

Aydin Hasz, a student from Wallace, Idaho, said he got involved with ISAS because of his interest in the aerospace engineering field.

“I’m interested in the launch system itself — just figuring out exactly what we want for it,” Hasz said while collaborating on a prototype with another student. “I’ve never built something like this before.”

Retired Post Falls, Idaho, teacher and ISAS mentor Greg Cosette said he’s been participating in the program since it began more than a decade ago. He considers it an opportunity for the students to get hands-on learning experience and make connections with people in the industry.

Cosette says the event also aims to keep students in Idaho — both for their education and their life after.

“We’re trying to keep these brilliant minds in the state as best we can,” he said. “When it comes to the work world, many of them are going to be leaving, but if we can get them established in our universities we have a better chance of keeping them here, to be an engineer at Micron, for example.”

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.