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updated August 17, 2009
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High School Students Complete Variety of Interesting Projects during Operation Catapult Summer Program
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The trickling waters of Lost Creek meander through the Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology campus in West Central Indiana. But the fact
that those waters will matriculate through rivers until flowing into the
Gulf of Mexico didn’t go unnoticed by seven high school seniors through
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Operation Catapult summer
education program.
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Studying Water Quality: High school seniors (from left) Rush Cook,
Kristi Weber and Sloane Masden examine the turbidity (cloudiness) of
Lost Creek as part of an environment engineering project during this
summer's Operation Catapult program at Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology. |
“I may eventually be drinking this water from the gulf,” assessed Rush
Cook of Naples, Fla., as he waded in the creek collecting samples for a
water quality environmental engineering project. “I hadn’t realized that
water affects everything around you. I just turn on the water faucet and
clean water comes out. Now, I know there is a whole lot that goes into
that process.”
That ability to look at how things affect their world –- and the role of
engineering and science has in that Big Picture mentality –- wasn’t lost
on other students in the project.
“I had never realized how a simple little stream in Indiana could impact
the water quality in some other region of the country. My eyes are open
to that fact now,” stated Kristi Weber of Grass Lake, Mich.
The group’s project examined the levels of dissolved oxygen and
nitrates, turbidity (cloudiness), pH balance and biochemistry oxygen
content in more than 70 water samples collected from four locations (at
least 100 yards apart) along the creek.
“I now appreciate how things can affect the entire ecosystem,” stated
Sloan Masden of Carmel, Ind.
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A Mechanical Hand: Chris Taylor (right) and Katherine Czaplicki proudly
display the mechanical device that replicates human hand movements. It
was among projects completed during the June session of Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology's Operation Catapult program. |
Those were among the lessons learned as more than 216 students from 30
states, Greece, India and United Arab Emirates spent two, 16-day
sessions at Rose-Hulman on June 14-July 1 and July 7-24. In its 43rd
year, Operation Catapult gives teenagers an opportunity to complete
hands-on projects, attend lectures on a variety of topics, participate
in field trips to examine real-world discoveries by engineers and
scientists, and learn about living on a college campus.
Project areas covered entrepreneurship, medical microbiology,
microalgae-based biodiesel, rapid prototyping, Python computer
programming, embedded microcontrollers and magneto-hydrodynamics.
Students also conducted wind tunnel tests, and created body weight
resistance machines, wetlands, juggling machines and Frisbee throwing
devices. They also constructed miniature submarines, blimps and
hovercrafts.
One of the most innovative projects had Chris Taylor of Carbon, Ind.,
and Katherine Czaplicki of Sugar Land, Texas, designing a creative
mechanical hand device that featured 15 mechanical joints to duplicate
all of the finger joints in a human hand, with a $40 project budget.
Each segment of the joint varied in length, like each bone in the hand.
The fingers were manipulated to grasp objects through an elaborate set
of pull wires -- replicating the nervous system that controls finger
movement.
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New Idea For Fitness Machine: Jonathan Richey-Kaplan puts a human weight
resistance fitness machine through a workout under the guidance of team
members Marie Stettler and Eric Westenkirchner during the Operation
Catapult program. |
“First and foremost, we wanted to see if a project with multiple parts
could be done. It was a lot of work and there were several problems that
crept up along the way. In the end, we proved our concept,” Taylor
stated.
Another project had three students building a fitness machine that uses
a person’s body weight, instead of conventional free weights, to provide
resistance during weight-lifting exercises. The machine utilized
different pulley systems and planes to create nine different exercise
positions to enhance the fitness benefits. A single pulley system would
offer resistance to achieve lifting 60 percent of the user’s body
weight. The double pulley system would bring 120 percent of body
resistance -- all lessons learned through study of basic physics,
kinetic energy and human physiology.
“The science behind this project was really interesting,” assessed
Jonathan Richey-Kaplan of Fox Point, Wis. “Why should you use a lot of
different weights when you have your own body weight to offer
resistance? Common sense was a big aspect of our project.”
Assisting with the project were Marie Stettler of Edgerton, Wis., and
Eric Westenkirchner of Zionsville, Ind.
Aspects of engineering and science were also key elements to a
mechanical snake and juggling machine devices that were among new
projects brought to the Operation Catapult program by this year’s group
of Rose-Hulman faculty mentors.
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Bringing New Ideas: Creating a mechanical snake device -- a new project
to the Operation Catapult program -- were (from left) Daniel Collins,
Mike Rudy, Matt Stephens and Carl Staub. |
“We wanted to do something that hadn’t been done,” stated Daniel Collins
of Floyds Knobs, Ind., who joined Mike Rudy of Nicholasville, Ky., Carl
Staub of Shrewsbury, Mass., and Matt Stephens of Palo Alto, Calif., in
using an elaborate rigging and gearing system to get 10 ribs, a tail and
head to create a mechanical snake that could slither across a table or
floor.
Sisters Jasmine and Raven Moody joined Tre Haskins, all of Indianapolis,
in leaving campus with a profit from selling dog tags and key chains
designed on computer software and created by a Pinnacle laser cutting
machine in Rose-Hulman’s Department of Mechanical Engineering machine
shop. The items featured a Catamonkey theme, the popular nickname of
Operation Catapult participants.
“My dream is to be an entrepreneur. I want to use engineering to get to
that goal,” Haskins said.
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Budding Entrepreneurs: Operation Catapult Session I participants (from
left) Raven Moody, Tre Haskins and Jasmine Moody used their technical
skills and ingenuity to create dog tags and key chains that were popular
items with their fellow Catamonkeys and faculty members. |
Jasmine Moody added: “I wasn’t sure how entrepreneurship went into
engineering. But the further we got into the project the clearer that
picture became. We needed to design the size of the hole in the dog tags
and we used computer design software to program the precision cutting
machine. So, there were many aspects of engineering in our project.”
Andrea Steiger and Dustin Morris of Terre Haute, Ind., faced a
scientific challenge –- using microalgae to create biodiesel, an
environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum-based diesel. The
students designed and built a bioreactor to grow various species of
lipid-producing algae, before testing different methods of extracting
the lipids and chemically converting them to diesel.
Steiger and Morris liked how the project was a perfect blend of
microbiology, chemistry and chemical engineering.
“I found that engineering and the world of scientific discovery are my
forte,” admitted Morris, who is now interested in studying chemical
engineering in college.
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Learning About Science: Andrea Steiger (right) joins other
Operation Catapult students in watching
Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology professor Peter Coppinger make an adjustment at a vital stage
in a biology experiment that helped extract biodiesel from microalgae. |
Besides the projects, students also learned about different engineering
career fields through faculty lectures, guest speakers and plant tours
to Cummins Engine, Eli Lilly and Beckman Coulter production facilities.
Students who participated in the Operation Catapult program were chosen
in the same manner that high school seniors are recruited to attend
Rose-Hulman.
Patsy Brackin of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was the
program director, with assistance from Erik Hayes, director of residence
life, and members of the college’s residence life staff. Serving as
project mentors were Rose-Hulman faculty members Thomas Adams, James
Mayhew and Richard Onyancha of the Department of Mechanical Engineering;
Claude Anderson and Stephen Chenoweth of the Department of Computer
Science and Software Engineering, Jianjian Song and Phillip Walter of
the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Daniel Coronell
and Scott McClellan of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Michael
Robinson of the Department of Civil Engineering; and Peter Coppinger of
the Department of Applied Biology and Biomechanical Engineering.
More information about Operation Catapult can be found at
www.rose-hulman.edu/catapult.
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