outreach

Walk Like an Engineer

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Feb. 15, March 22, and April 19 Lick Creek Park, College Station, Texas

The BiSSL group will be hosting a Walk Like an Engineer program with College Station, TX local Lick Creek Park and Gary Halter Nature Center. The events combine learning about the local nature and engineering design, introducing the concept of bio-inspired engineering design. Each day focuses on a different topic including nature’s communities, communication in nature, and nature’s homes. The Spring 2026 events are designed for kids ages 7-12 to attend with their parents. The event is partially funded and designed in conjunction with a grant supported by the National Science Foundation.

Find out more here.

BiSSL group hosting a STEM Saturday event with A&M’s Access & Inclusion office

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Dr. Layton, along with Ph.D. students Hadear Hassan and Luis Rodriguez, will be hosting a bio-inspired engineering design event through Access & Inclusion’s STEM Saturday series, which targets A&M’s first-year general engineering students with fun ways to gain technical experience while learning more about various engineering disciplines to inform students’ entry to a major (ETAM) process.

MEGSO, MEFEGs, and MEEN Girls present: “Info Session for Grad School”

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October 6-7, 2020

The Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Organization (MEGSO), the Mechanical Engineering Female Graduate Student Group (MEFEGs), and the Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Women’s group (MEEN Girls) are together hosting an informational session series about “Graduate School as a Mechanical Engineer.”

Faculty/Staff Panel: Tuesday, October 6th 3:30-4:30pm
Student Panel: Wednesday, October 7th 4:30-5:30pm

Ask questions or come to hear the answers! Find out about admittance procedures, what it’s like to be a graduate student firsthand, and what opportunities you can unlock!

MEFEGs Monthly Faculty Lunch: Dr. Cynthia Hipwell speaks about “When your experiment does not go as planned”

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June 26, 2020 12-1pm CT

The Mechanical Engineering Female Graduate Students (MEFEGs) is honored to invite Dr. Cynthia Hipwell to share her experience in our monthly faculty lunch this Friday noon. Dr. Hipwell spent 21 years in industry – most of that as a data storage leader at Seagate Technology, and is known as a technology and business process innovator. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Inventors and is very passionate about promoting innovative thought and curriculum at Texas A&M. The faculty lunch will be discussion based and it is a good opportunity to interact with female faculties within MEEN department.

Layton Invited Keynote at Texas A&M Regional Engineering Conference, hosted by the Student Engineers’ Council

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The judges for TREC 2020 (organizers Laura and Keeton on the far left and right) included representatives from Phillips 66 and Caterpillar.

The final presentations of the 2020 Texas A&M Regional Engineering Conference (TREC) were a huge success! The student teams presented innovative bio-inspired designs that could have a real impact on hurricane prone areas. A lot of the students had first hand experience with the problems they were looking to solve.

First prize went to the INSPIDERED team from SWE! They created a spider silk glass cover to protect from and prevent shattered glass from falling into homes and the environment – protecting clean up crews from glass shards. Congratulations!

I’m excited to help kick-off the Texas A&M Regional Engineering Conference (TREC) this Saturday with a keynote speech! TREC co-chairs Laura Orellana and Keeton Bailey have done an excellent job creating an impactful problem statement for the interdisciplinary freshmen teams to work on for the next three weeks.

TREC is an event hosted annually by the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) at Texas A&M Engineering to foster professionalism and interdisciplinary collaboration among freshmen by developing a solution to a sustainability-related problem and presenting their product 3 weeks later.

It’s not too late to register! http://trec.tamu.edu

Women’s History Month at Texas A&M

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At Texas A&M University, diversity is changing the face of engineering, so join us in celebrating Women’s History Month! Throughout March, hear what Texas A&M Mechanical Engineering students, staff, and faculty have to say about embracing differences.

This afternoon’s shoutout goes to Assistant Professor Dr. Astrid Layton:

“Just because a subject is hard for you and seems easy for everyone else, doesn’t mean it isn’t for you! The hard stuff is often the most interesting and rewarding, and it’s hard work – not talent that creates success.”

Dr. Astrid Layton, more here.