High School Students Show Off Engineering Skills

May 2017

 

Students from Lee Magnet High School compete to win the BSEE Challenge

 

In late March, more than 150 high school students converged in LSU’s Tiger Stadium to showcase their science and technology skills related to offshore exploration and development. The competition included students from West Feliciana High School, Plaquemine High School, and Arts East, Mathematics, Science, and Arts West, Starship Academy, Scotlandville Magnet High School, Lee Magnet High School, and Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy.

 

“Today was a great day to come out and display the talent of our STEM program, and we had a lot of fun!” said Anthony Ash, one of the student participants from Lee Magnet High School.

 

Students from local high schools steered remote-controlled cars powered by energy they harnessed using a piezoelectric technology developed by NASA. Piezoelectric materials generate an electric charge in response to mechanical stress, and the students used the concept to harness energy generated by underwater sound waves to power a remote-controlled car, circling a track to achieve the greatest number of laps within a 10-minute period.

 

The competition was sponsored by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and the Ocean Energy Safety Institute. This was the first time for LSU to host the event, which began as a pilot project at the University of Houston in 2016. This year, BSEE has expanded the competition to LSU and Taft College in California.

 

The competition is part of BSEE’s efforts to promote science, technology, engineering and math education and engage the future technical workforce. The Ocean Energy Safety Institute was formed by BSEE in 2013 and includes UH, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.

This article was adapted from a press release by LSU’s Alison Satake. For the original article, please visit: http://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2017/03/27pete_techchallenge.php