This week, I welcome guest blogger, Emily Satterfield, a sophmore at Lowell High School and leader of the FRC 5962 Merrimack Valley Robotics electrical engineering team. She recently partnered with the university and local area high schools to offer a “Women in STEM” event in our Makerspace….
Saturday, the women of the Merrimack Valley Robotics team (FRC 5962) held an event at the University for local female, high school students interested in STEM.
Fourteen girls from four different schools (Tewksbury High School, Lowell High School, Innovations Academy, and Dracut High School) attended. The team also had eight mentors from UMass Lowell, as well as partners Amazon Robotics and Analog Devices to assist with projects.
The team created three engineering stations: electrical, software, and mechanical, where the girls experienced various hands on activities demonstrating some of the things done in each of the fields.
The software team wrote simple programs to get the robot moving around. The electrical team constructed puzzles with switches and LEDs and a little soldering project. The mechanical team designed and prototyped a manipulator to pick up a ball. During lunch, there was the opportunity for everyone to ask questions about college and engineering. I am extremely grateful for UML’s SWE (Society for Women Engineers) for serving as our 
mentors, as well as providing an overview of SWE and its role in supporting women engineers.
mentors, as well as providing an overview of SWE and its role in supporting women engineers.I want to thank Jamie and Sam from Analog Devices and Pratheeba from Amazon Robotics for their support and assistance. Thank you to the team as well for supporting this throughout the last month. It was a team effort, the event wouldn’t have been a success without everyone’s help!
– Emily