NDSU
Achintya bezbaruah
North Dakota State University

Outreach and Other Programs

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Preparing K-12 Students for Careers in STEM

2010-11 NASA WLMR-DC: NDSU Kick-Off on November 8, 2010 (see Flyer). This year's target: 6 teams!!

West Fargo Middle School Team Wins NASA National Design Award

Six students from West Fargo Public Schools won Best Design Team Award in NASA organized Waste Limitation Management and Recucling Design Challenge. The students worked on lunar water recycling project to reuse urine and greywater on the Moon. They students formed a team (PLS3R) and put in more than 800 research hour to come up with the winning design idea. Dr. Bezbaruah mentored the students during the project. Five of the students were in seventh grade at STEM Center Middle School and one was in eight grade at Cheney Middle School, and four of them were girls.

Nonotechnology Popularization (K-12)


Bison BEST Robotics (Middle and High School)

2010: STEM Manufacturing (a team of 42 students from West Fargo STEM Middle School) bags a number of BEST Awards in Biosn BEST Robotics 2010 held at Fargo!! Bezbaruah serves as a mentor and helped in overall organization of the activities with major inputs in team building and education. It is a 6-week long intense program that invovles all components of the Engineering Design Process (EDP). The program is targetted towards attracting middle and high school students to STEM Education and Careers. This year's team comprised of 23 male and 19 female 6-8 grade students.

West Fargo STEM Center wins:

  • BEST Engineering Project Notebook Award (First Place)
  • BEST Table Display Award (First Place)
  • BEST You Tube Video Award (First Place)
  • BEST Mascot Award (Second Place)

See local TV coverage of the team: Valley Today Channel 11 Video

2009: NRG wasinvolved in mentoring STEM Bison BEST Team at West Fargo STEM Center (a middle school) for the Bison BEST Robotics Competition. Bison BEST is part of the nation wide effort (The BEST Robotics) to attract middle and high school students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The mentoring involved one member of the team attending education and practice session everyday (Monday-Thursday) from 7:00-8:30PM and on Saturdays from 8:00AM-2:00PM for the months of September and October.

Market Place for Kids (Middle School)




NRG is working with Market Place for Kids, Inc. and offering a course on Nanotechnology ("Nano... Nano...") for elementary and middle school students in May every year since 2007.

Photos from the 2008/2009 program: Photo1, Photo2, Photo3, Photo4, Photo5, Photo6
Video of 2009 Market Place for Kids: Nano... Nano... Workshop

A VERY COOL WEBSITE: Nanotech Kids

AND COOLEST VIDEOS

Helping Undergraduates to Discover the Inventors in Them

Green Idea Contest

In Spring semester, this contest challenges CE 370 (Introduction to Environmental Engineering) students to come up with some green ideas for their home or elsewhere. An idea can be real practical (i.e., readily doable) or abstract with a possibility of success (high gain but high chance of failure). Presentations are scheduled for the Earth Day (April 22). Core objective of this contest is to give an opportunity to all students to discover the inventors in them. This effort will go a long way in inculcating scientific temper and encouraging creativity among students. This is one of the many efforts we need at this critical time our country is passing through and as we get ready for tomorrow. The ‘ideas’ are evaluated by a panel of judges (faculty, consultants, and graduate and undergraduate students) and the best ‘ideas’ get gift cards and other prizes. In Spring 2009, gift cards were given by Black and Veatch (BV). Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services (AE2S) and Moore Engineering hosted lunches honoring the participating students. Spring 2009 Award Winning 'Green Ideas'

Sample Mini-Projects by Undergradute and Gradute Students

  1. Tidal Power: Methods of Extraction [PowerPoint, Audio]
  2. Al-Jazari: Impact of The Twin Cylinder [PowerPoint, Audio]
  3. An Option for Sustainable Management of Fishery Resources in Deepor Beel: Co-management Approach [PowerPoint, Audio]
  4. Life Cycle Analysis of Hand-dryers [PowerPoint, Audio]
  5. Treatment of Slaughterhouse Wastewater [PowerPoint, Audio]
  6. Ballast Flocculation for Sanitary Sewer Overflow Management [PowerPoint, Audio]
  7. Reducing the Amount of Waste Activated Sludge [PowerPoint, Audio]
  8. Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors for Wastewater Nitrogen Removal [PowerPoint, Audio]
  9. Arsenic in Drinking Water: Risk Assessment [PowerPoint, Audio]
  10. Bioremediation of BTEX Compounds [PowerPoint, Audio]

Site Manager: A.Bezbaruah@ndsu.edu
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Published by North Dakota State University
Achintya Bezbaruah
Civil Engineering and Architecture 201
Phone: (701) 231-7461
Fargo, ND 58105-5555