Engineer Debbie Martinez of NASA’s Langley Research Center coaches a team of high school students Thursday during an Engineering Career Days 2018 design challenge. Using modest materials such as cups, drinking straws and coffee filters, students were asked to build and test designs of a system for landing a capsule on another planet. Designs were judged on rate of descent, whether they landed upright and proximity to landing target. Hosted by NASA Langley, Engineering Career Days was presented in partnership with Newport News Shipbuilding, Jefferson Laboratory and the Peninsula Engineers Council. About 240 high school students from Isle of Wight County, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Suffolk participated on Thursday. A similar number of students from Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg/James City County, York County and Poquoson attended a second session on Friday. In addition to the design challenge, students got to speak with engineers and scientists from participating organizations and ask them about their work. “It was enlightening,” said 16-year-old Michelle Yue of Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach. “I learned a lot and wish I could have experienced even more.” Teachers in the room were also pleased. Eszter Muranyi, who teaches math and physics at King’s Fork High School in Suffolk, said her students were learning that NASA was about more than space exploration. Science, technology and materials engineering — which have applications in the private sector — are also part of the agency’s scope. “It’s exciting for us and we hope to pass that excitement on to our students,” Muranyi said. “This is beautiful.”
Image Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman