The College of Engineering invites you to visit us on campus and wants you to invite us to your school.
We visit you
Presentations in class: We have curriculum-based presentations to help your students think about how they will use science and math in their lives. These lessons can be presented by current engineering students, alumni who work in engineering, or faculty and staff from the College of Engineering.
Demonstrations: Our traveling demonstrations bring hands-on engineering concepts to your school that show real life applications of math and science.
Scroll down (below the request form) for a list of presentations and activities with full descriptions of each.
Note: We are currently booking visits for the 2012-2013 academic year. Check back after April 2013 to book a visit for the 2013-2014 academic year.
You visit us
Field trips to the University of Utah: We invite you to bring your students to visit the College of Engineering at the University of Utah. With advance notice, we can arrange lab visits, campus tours, and hands-on demonstrations.
Description of Activities
Paper Rockets
Students place fins of different shapes and sizes on paper tubes. They are launched with a bike pump launcher. Concepts of aerodynamics are introduced.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Catapults
Students learn about forces and the motion that can occur as a result. They are introduced to tension as a force. They construct a catapult and determine which length of level is most effective. Adaptations include engineering a catapult that can launch 3 feet and another that launches 40 feet. With the adaptations, students create a graph and analyze the data.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Gum Drop Towers
Students learn about materials used to build skyscrapers. They are introduced to technology that makes it possible to build large structures. They build a structure and test its strength through an earthquake.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Balloon Rocket Activity
Students learn about technology that makes space exploration possible. They are given supplies to create a rocket whose fuel source is a balloon. They test the balloon to see how far it will travel. Concepts of aerodynamics are demonstrated.
Designed For: Junior High Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Diaper Polymer Activity
Students learn about super absorbent polymers. They dismantle different brands of diapers to determine which brand absorbs the most moisture.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Oobleck
Students learn about shear thickening fluids. They run through a mixture of a specific shear thickening fluid.
Designed For: Elementary, Junior High and High School Classes
Time: TBD
Golf Club Test
Students are introduced to two types of metal that are used to make golf clubs. They test the clubs to see which one hits the farthest. Concepts of math and graphing are used to analyze trends.
Designed For: Junior High Math Classes
Asphalt
Students learn that different sizes of aggregate are used to create concrete and asphalt. They use aggregate and a type of cement to make edible asphalt.
Designed For: Junior High Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Robots
Students are introduced to concepts of computer programming. They program a robot to write the first letter of their name. If more time is available, students take part in other programming challenges including King of the Hill and mazes.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 45 – 60 minutes
Lip Gloss
Students mix different ingredients to make different flavors and textures of lip balm. They learn about chemical processes that chemical engineers use to make cosmetics.
Designed For: Junior High Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Gak
Students are introduced to process engineering as a component of chemical engineering. They follow a process to make slime.
Designed For: Elementary, Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Spaghetti Towers
Students construct towers of pasta and other “cement.” They test the structure to determine the amount of weight they can hold.
Designed For: Elementary, Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Wind Turbines
Students are introduced to turbines as a form of generating electricity. They construct wind turbine blades to generate enough voltage to light a LED bulb.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Super Bouncy Balls
Students learn about chemical properties of substances. They use water soluble substances to make bouncy balls.
Designed For: Elementary and Junior High School Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Water Bottle Rockets
Students learn about air pressure and aerodynamics. They construct a bottle rocket and use trigonometric functions to determine the maximum height of their rocket.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Crystal Radio
Students learn about radio waves and how to capture them. They create a device that can project the sound.
Designed For: High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Perfume Distillation
Students learn about the distillation process. They use their knowledge of chemistry and distillation to create perfume.
Designed For: High School Classes
Time: 120 minutes
Roller Coasters
Students learn about potential and kinetic energy. They create a track to move a marble from one point to another.
Designed For: Junior High Classes
Time: 20 minutes
Heart Valve Activity
Students learn about fluid dynamics as well as how valves in our bodies function. They construct a heart valve that will only allow fluids to travel in one direction.
Designed For: High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Electronics Investigation
Students dismantle electronic devices and learn about the components that make electronics function: capacitors, resistors, inductors, transformers, etc.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Solar Cars
Students learn about photovoltaic properties as they construct a solar powered car. They learn about efficiency and perpendicular angles as they try to create movement. Other alternative energy concepts can also be introduced, including fuel cells, etc.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 – 90 minutes
Egg Drop
Students learn about creating a business based on technology. They construct a device that will protect an egg as it is rolled down a flight of stairs or dropped from a ladder. They learn about being efficient with funds.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 60 minutes
Cookie Processes
Students are introduced to concepts of process engineering. They explore processes used in food processing by creating a mechanism for generating a large quantity of identically frosted cookies.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 40 minutes
Water Filtration
Students learn how particulates are filtered from the water supply as they construct a device that filters water.
Designed For: Elementary, Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Description of Presentations
Electricity and Electrical EngineeringStudents learn very basic concepts about electricity: voltage, current, resistance and Ohm’s law. They also learn about completing the circuit and how turbines work to create electricity. Electron movement is demonstrated with noble gases. Students learn how Electrical Engineers manipulate the flow of electricity to design components.
Designed For: Junior High School Science and Math Classes
Time: 25 minutes
See also Electronics Investigation
Rocks and Materials Science
Students learn about uses of rocks both as they are found in nature as well as how minerals can be extracted to create new materials. Students explore different types of materials.
Designed For: Junior High School Science Classes
Time: 25 minutes
Bridges
Students learn about shapes that are stronger than others. They learn about load distribution when designing bridges and other structures. They analyze different bridge design and discuss what makes them strong or weak.
Designed For: Junior High School Science and Math Classes
Time: 25 minutes
Math in Motion
Students learn that math is used to create computer graphics. They learn that math concepts in trigonometry and calculus are used to create camera movement on a computer screen. They also learn that graphing is integral to creating computer graphics.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Math Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Students learn about the six areas of Civil Engineering and how it applies to the structure of the civilizations that they live in. Concepts of geotechnical engineering and earthquakes are demonstrated.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Science Classes
Time: 40 minutes
See also Gum Drop Tower Activity
Open the Door
Students are introduced the ways engineers affect our lives to make them better, as well as seven different kinds of engineering with examples of each.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Math and Science Classes
Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Engineering Your Future
Students learn how their hobbies have been influenced and enhanced by engineers. They learn what it takes to be an engineer.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Classes
Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Biomedical Engineering Saves Lives
Students learn that engineers are problem solvers. They are introduced to several different ways that engineers save lives and solve biomedical problems.
Designed For: Junior High Science Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Forces and Mechanical Engineering (Roller Coasters)
Students learn how engineers use Physics to make roller coasters safe and fun. They learn about kinetic and potential energy that are used to create the mechanism of a roller coaster.
Designed For: Junior High Science Classes
Time: 45 minutes
Panama Canal
Students are introduced to the concept of locks as they are used to move ships uphill in the Panama Canal.
Designed For: Junior High Science Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Engineering Dubai
Students learn about the Civil Engineering advances that are taking place in Dubai. They learn about manmade islands, dynamic architecture and building the world’s tallest building.
Designed For: Junior High Science and Geography Classes
Time: 45 minutes
See also Gum Drop Tower Activity
Engineering Las Vegas
Students are introduced to different types of engineering involved with Las Vegas, including the technology behind Cirque du Soleil, the Hoover Dam, the Bellagio fountains and slot machines.
Designed For: Junior High Science Classes
Time: 30 minutes
Generating Wind Energy
Students learn about the efficiency of wind turbines, the economics behind their construction and different designs and uses for wind energy.
Designed For: Junior High and High School Science Classes
Time: 15 minutes
See also Wind Turbine Activity
Space Engineering
Students learn about the technology that makes it possible to see into space as well as explore the surfaces of planets and moons in our solar systems. They are also introduced to new technology that will make it possible to see farther into the universe.
Designed For: Junior High Science Classes
Time: 15 minutes
