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FIU College of Engineering Hosts
Open House of Knowledge
MIAMI (Feb. 19, 2002)
- Wiz kids from all over South Florida will gather at FIU on Friday
Feb. 22, to experience scientific demonstrations, take state-of-
the-art lab tours and build airplanes, as part of Engineering
Week 2002.
"We are opening up our labs to aspiring engineers and we
are asking them to come in and have a glimpse of what they can
do with their careers," said FIU's Dean of Engineering Vish
Prasad. "This is an opportunity for young people who have
an interest in science to experience the exciting and creative
world of engineering."
Over1,000 students from Miami-Dade and Broward engineering magnet
high
schools, as well as from Miami-Dade and Broward community colleges
and Florida
Memorial College are invited to this instructional open house.
Also attending the Engineers Week festivities will be seven university
presidents, as well as additional university dignitaries, from
Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
This is the largest outreach effort ever sponsored by the FIU
College of Engineering and is the first time international representatives
from so many Latin American universities have attended.
Participants will find 13 of the engineering labs open for tours
and demonstrations by FIU students and faculty. In the Cardiovascular
Engineering lab, for example, they'll see how heart valves are
built; next door in the Biomechanics lab, they'll experience the
forces that make insects move.
In addition, they'll learn about the engineering
elements that makes remote control cars go and they'll have an
opportunity to compete in building airplanes from scratch.
"Engineering is exciting, it's challenging and it's the future,"
said Dean Prasad. "Our guests will walk away with a clear
sense of what is possible with an education in this field."
The day's activities will begin at 9:30 a.m. with welcoming remarks
by Joseph Bordogna, deputy director of the National Science Foundation.
Following the kickoff of the engineering fair, Bordogna will meet
with engineering faculty, guests and graduate students and will
have lunch with FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. Activities
will wrap up at 2:30 p.m.
Participants will gather on the grounds of the Center for Engineering
and Applied Sciences (CEAS), home to the College of Engineering,
located on the northeast corner of 107th Ave and Flagler Street,
about two miles north of University Park.
The FIU College of Engineering offers 15 undergraduate and graduate
programs in eight disciplines. Currently, it graduates more Hispanic
engineers than any other university in the country.
For more information about the event, please call 305-348-1890
of visit the College of Engineering web site at http://www.eng.fiu.edu/html2002/index.htm
Media Contact:
Maydel Santana-Bravo
305-348-1555
santanam@fiu.edu
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