With 44% of its student body identifying as first-generation college students, the University of Houston has been lauded for providing a bevy of programs, resources and support geared toward acclimating first-time Coogs to the collegiate experience.
However, UH extends similar support beyond its campus, too.
Lone Star College-University Park’s Summer Bridge STEM program helps first time undergraduates with specific interests in STEM careers make a successful transition to college life. For the program’s third year, it chose energy as a central focus of its curriculum.
Fittingly, The Energy University was the perfect place for Lone Star’s latest cohort to take part in an interactive showcase highlighting just a sliver of energy’s limitless potential within a variety of applications and careers.
“We’re proud to have partnered with Lone Star College to help provide this opportunity for their students. Education goes far beyond our classrooms at UH, and engaging the community is a key point of pride and emphasis in what we do,” said Deidra Perry, executive director of educational programs for the Division of Energy and Innovation. “It’s vital to showcase what we’re doing in energy and innovation and to show our future leaders that UH is the place to be for aspiring difference-makers in those spaces.”
In addition to a campus tour, the group visited a trio of labs that highlight the gamut of ground-breaking activity at UH: the Robotic Swarm Control Lab led by Aaron Becker, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UH Cullen College of Engineering; environmental engineering assistant professor Mim Rahimi’s lab for Electrochemical Processes for Climate Change Mitigation; and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH with research Shaowei Song.
“UH is advancing energy and promoting innovation at an impressive level, and a lot of our students have never been to the campus before,” said Regina Oliver, program coordinator at Lone Star College-University Park. “It was a wonderful opportunity for them to tour one of our most popular transfer institutions, explore STEM and for us to provide more hands-on learning experiences within our community, thanks to UH’s faculty and staff.”
Becker’s lab, which focuses in part on the use of magnetically controlled tiny robots as an innovative and non-invasive solution to combat pulmonary embolisms – the world’s third-most common cardiovascular diseases after heart attacks and strokes – caught the eye of Natalie Rodriguez, a freshman who is working toward an associate’s degree at Lone Star with intention of being a nurse. In addition to personal growth, Rodriguez noted that the experience opened her eyes to the many opportunities awaiting her in the next phase of her studies.
“It helped me see the difference resources UH provides, and there’s a lot of innovation and up and coming technologies happening here,” she said. “What really caught my eye was their device to help against blood clots. I love everything health science related, so it was refreshing to see how energy can make an impact in that field.”
The Lone Star group also got a closer look at the Rahimi group’s groundbreaking work in electrochemical carbon capture as well as TcSUH’s cutting-edge endeavors in thermoelectricity.
Xavier Castillo, a Lone Star student with plans to study biomedical engineering and pursue a career in medicine, echoed Rodriguez’s sentiments. For him, the tour was a peek behind the curtain of the latest advancements in technology and science, describe it as a “humbling” learning opportunity as it gave the group the curiosity to turn weaknesses into strengths.
“The tour was very fascinating, given that none of us really have a background in engineering. My experience within this program has been great, and it’s not only helped me learn more about college life, but myself as well,” he said. “It gave us a closer look at what goes on behind the scenes, in a way. From an innovation standpoint, there’s so much going on at UH that we don’t know about with the potential to do great things in the world.”