Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL) partnered with BP PLC and Trumbull Unmanned this past summer on a 3-day drone camp to help Houston-area middle-school and high-school students understand better the technology and social issues surrounding unmanned aerial vehicles. Rice University hosted the Aug. 11-13 camp free of charge with students attending from three Houston Independent School District (HISD) middle schools, two HISD high schools, and Timberwood Middle School in nearby Humble ISD.
Rice and HISD jointly developed the curriculum, ensuring it aligned with Texas' state educational standards and addressed core science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) needs. Care also was taken to make the program reach the two hardest places to get to in the regular classroom: group problem solving and experiential learning.
A group of 20 sixth-grade to ninth-grade students attended. RCEL opened the application process in the summer. Concerned that it might not be able to reach kids with school out, the program directly contacted campuses with which it had prior experience to gauge interest. Response was immediate.
The registration process
The registration link RCEL put up didn't ask for any demographic information, just that each prospective student submit a brief statement of interest. More than 200 applicants signed up in 2 days. The statement of interest was the sole criterion used in narrowing the field down to 40. RCEL then asked these 40 to write an essay regarding how they had overcome a technical problem at home. Just in case this wouldn't be enough to narrow the field sufficiently, prospective students also were asked to provide a list of any awards or honors they'd received.
The statement of interest had allowed RCEL to gauge enthusiasm. The follow-up essay, in addition to opening a window onto problem-solving skills, allowed assessment of the amount of energy each applicant was willing to apply to a particular task. The essay request did not include a minimum word count. Some applicants came back with one well-written paragraph. Others, however, offered 3 pages of detailed description and analysis.
The process still did not include demographic information of any sort. The results?
Of the final 20 students, 50% were female. Six different countries were represented, as was every domestic ethnicity. Some students were first-generation children of immigrants. Others came from backgrounds of established wealth.
Participants learned about drone design, safety, aerodynamics, and teamwork. BP employees volunteered as instructors, leading discussion about applying unmanned aerial technology to the energy industry. Students piloted drones to specific landmarks around the Rice campus using coordinates and learning about navigation and global positioning technology. They also learned about social and ethical implications of the technology.
At the end of camp, teams gave presentations addressing how drone technology could be used to solve real-world problems. The presentations were done "Shark Tank"-style to a panel of Rice faculty, retired Air Force pilots, and BP personnel. The students had to sell both their solution's technical merits and its social ramifications.
This balance between technology and society was emphasized throughout the camp. In one track students divided into teams to role-play as technology developers, military customers, and concerned citizen activists. RCEL also had campers trace the evolution of technology as not necessarily good or evil, but as a social tool.
The future, now
Trumbull, which counts BP among its clients, works with RCEL to place Rice students as interns in the energy industry. The camp itself provided RCEL students with the opportunity to instruct others in a real-world setting.
Projects like these are essential to ensuring not just that the oil and gas industry has the labor force it needs in the future, but that students from all backgrounds in the US with an interest in STEM topics are empowered to pursue their goals.
