Building Bridges Fall 2024

On Friday, December 6th we held our semi-annual Building Bridges. This event provides high school students with the opportunity to explore and learn more about the College of Engineering at Northeastern University. Students were able to participate in a full day of programming which included: an informative, introductory talk on the College of Engineering; a variety of interactive engineering activity sessions led by faculty and staff; a college question and answer panel with current students; and informal opportunities to connect with like-minded peers. Around 100 high schoolers were in attendance!

This event would not be possible without the generous engagement of faculty, staff, and students who host our activity sessions. This year, those offered included:

EXP Makerspace Tour by Paul Carson – Learn about Northeastern’s Makerspace: explore the space and discover how to screen print (and make your own tote bag)
Warm Sustainable Home by Christopher Dankwah [Prof. Kane’s lab] – Compete to make your model home as warm as possible with various energy conservation measures, balancing performance with cost
A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste by Prof. Damilola Daramola – Learn about how discarded materials can be re-harvested, processed, and re-used into fit-for-use products
Engineering with Fire by Echo St. Germain [Prof. Levendis’ lab] – Learn about the physics of fire and why understanding combustion is critical for green energy solutions
Illusion Optics by X. Zhang, A. Zhang, T.Y. Kim [Prof. Liu’s lab] – Build your own 3D hologram pyramid and invisibility cloak to help you understand the fundamentals of optics
Sports Biomechanics, Newton’s Third Law & Engineering Sneakers by Prof. Jen Love – Explore the field of sports biomechanics – measure your own ground reaction forces and design your own sneakers
Microfluidic Devices for Tissue Culture Applications by Prof. Cynthia Hajal – Learn about how microfluidic devices are built and cells are embedded in them to generate human-like tissues
Anisotropic Conductivity of Thermally Activated 3D-Printable Materials by Andrew Miceli [Prof. Erb’s lab] – Learn about heat and thermal conductivity through different materials and how our lab operates to augment these properties
Engineering the Next Generation of Wireless Communication Networks by Profs. Polese, Basagni, and Jornet – Learn more about next-gen wireless networks and the Institute of Wireless Things
Control of Human Movements by Prof. Dagmar Sternad – Learn more about how humans move through experimental set-ups for human data collection
Designing Earthquake Resistant Buildings by Prof. Nancy Varney – Explore the world of structural engineering: see how designing earthquake-proof structures is important to the safety of millions