Category Archives: Engineering

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair – the annual event is taking place in Phoenix, Arizona now (through May 14th).

Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,300 students from approximately 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize: a $50,000 college scholarship.

Next year the fair will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 7th through May 13th.

Intel Education Resources include the: Intel Science Talent Search

In 1998, Intel Corporation assumed sponsorship of the program previously sponsored by the Westinghouse Foundation as a way to recognize and reward excellence in science and to encourage more young people to explore science and technology.

Since assuming the sponsorship, Intel has increased awards and scholarships from $207,000 to $1,250,000 a year”

High School Engineering Education

Web site devoted to a comprehensive engineering program at my former high school: Madison West High School (see Curious Cat Madison West High School Alumni page).

These courses are organized around a set of concepts, skills and attitudes necessary for an engineering career. Unfortunately, students in many other schools can still graduate having had no practical contact with engineering concepts or case studies. A major problem of secondary education is that schools teach science, technology, and mathematics only in the context of the specific disciplines. These courses solve that problem. It shows students the important engineering concepts and has them work on real-world case studies resembling the problems they will be solving in an engineering career.

Another high school engineering related effort is the Statistical Design of Experiments Program at the Macomb Intermediate School District (it also has a Madison connection. From the history on their web site: “In 1984, Kathy and Bob Peterson participated in a special Woodrow Wilson Foundation summer institute on Quantitative Literacy in Princeton, NJ. A principal organizer and speaker at that conference was the late William Hunter, a professor of statistics at the University of Wisconsin.”