Mehdi Modares, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, is currently working jointly with the Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program (ChiS&E) on a National Science Foundation-sponsored project entitled “Little Structural Engineering Program.”

ChiS&E is a nonprofit outreach program educating elementary school students in STEM areas. The goal of this collaboration is to increase the knowledge, skills, and interest of 4th-grade students in the concepts of bridge engineering. While understanding the engineering aspects of bridge structural engineering, the students will design and build a bridge model that will be tested at the end of the program. Currently, 72 students from under-represented groups in the Chicago area are enrolled in this program.