The average age of workers at the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center probably dips during the summer.
That's when select high school students join the work force to gain experience as future engineers and scientists. The Science and Engineering Apprentice Program is an Army education outreach to provide learning experiences and hands-on application in research laboratories.
Sixteen students participated in the eight-week program which concluded last week.
"It's been pretty good," said Wes Duncan, 18, from Madison, who finished his second summer with the program. "That's why I keep coming back. And the money's good, too. It's good experience if you're going to do engineering. And you meet connections for co-ops and job opportunities."
Duncan, a 2008 graduate of Bob Jones High, is a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. His mentor this summer was Aaron Brown of AMRDEC.
"It's good experience if you're going to do engineering. And you meet connections for co-ops and job opportunities."
The students did a technical project, visited a number of laboratories and had tours and professional presentations during this comprehensive program.
"It's been fun and educating," said Keaira Lloyd, 16, from Huntsville, who also finished her second summer here. "It definitely has broadened my view about science and engineering."
Lloyd is a junior at New Century Technology High. Her mentor was AMRDEC's Eugene Edwards.
Other groups of students participated in another education outreach program called Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science, which is for students in grades 8-12. The weeklong GEMS-1 and GEMS-2 programs were conducted in cycles with a new group each session. There were three sessions of GEMS-1, two sessions of GEMS-2 and one session of GEMS-3, which lasted two weeks. Forty-five students participated in GEMS-1, 30 students in GEMS-2 and 15 in GEMS-3.
This was the first year for GEMS-3 at Redstone Arsenal and the first GEMS-3 program throughout the Defense Department, according to AMRDEC.
GEMS-3 began with a weeklong session that was focused on alternative forms of energy. Students designed and built a hydrogen generator out of PVC, knives, steel plates and sodium hydroxide. Tests were run on the hydrogen generator to test the efficiency of hydrogen.
Hydrogen was also used to explode a depth charge, and a rocket was launched using hydrogen as propellant. In the second week, students built a number of projects that examined aerospace engineering theories. After the two weeks, the students were given the opportunity to continue with the GEMS-3 Extended Program and completed a number of engineering-related tasks. GEMS-3 Extended ran an additional three weeks.
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