The Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) Department at Armour College of Engineering and the American Society of Materials (ASM) International have partnered together since 2013 to sponsor and host ASM Materials Camp. The event is an important outreach program aimed at reaching local Chicagoland junior high and high school students.

From July 17-21, the MMAE Department hosted a group junior high and high school science and math teachers from the greater Chicagoland region. Master teachers Caryn Jackson of Tolles Career & Technical Center in Plain City, Ohio. and Bernoli Baello of Northridge Prep School in Niles, Illinois, have been leading demonstrations and helping to “educate the educators” on how to develop effective laboratory modules that help promote science, technology, engineering. and math (STEM) learning in the classroom.

The camp consists of a week-long instructional period that is free to all teachers and gives them a chance to learn content and try out hands-on activities that they can take back to their classrooms and get their students excited about materials science and engineering. Each of the teachers that complete the ASM Materials Camp program will have the opportunity to expose MSE and STEM concepts to hundreds of local students that are educated in their classrooms every year.

Professor Sammy Tin and staff members Elena Magnus and Russ Janota from the MMAE Department have served as local organizers for this important outreach program.