ONR Summer Scholars for the 1992 PREFACE Program

PREFACE, a two-week residential program for disadvantaged students, women and members of ethnic minority groups historically underrepresented in scientific, technological and engineering professions, will celebrate its fifteenth summer program in 1992. PREFACE is designed to facilitate a broader and deeper understanding of engineering and related professions, career options, and the kinds of competencies and expectations of engineering faculty and professionals on the collegiate and practitioner levels. The most unique feature of PREFACE is its linking the development of engineering professionals theoretical and the practice and application of engineering and scientific principles practical. Participants have the opportunity to learn what engineering is from experts in the various fields of engineering and observe how principles of engineering are applied in industrial and research settings. This summer experience serves to clarify the kinds of knowledge and skills essential to successfully complete an engineering degree. Participants are selected from a nation-wide pool of applications and spend two weeks on the Rensselaer Campus attending lectures, demonstrations, visiting research and industrial facilities, learning interactive computer graphics using ProEngineer applied to solving an engineering problem, and interacting with faculty, engineering professionals, Rensselaer undergraduategraduate students and peers. These experiences provide a valuable base from which to plan appropriate academic coursework during their senior year in high school, clarify what engineering is and how it is applied to solving real-world problems, and realize that engineering and related professional careers are within ones grasp.