The program offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on engineering experience through diverse, team-based projects, guided by UCLA faculty and students, providing a realistic preview of college-level engineering and career paths.
The UCLA Engineering Design Pre-College Program is a 3-week immersive experience for high school students interested in engineering. The program offers various tracks, including Go-Karts, Rockets, Rovers, and Microcontrollers/Internet of Things (IoT), each supervised by UCLA faculty and mentored by UCLA undergraduate students. Students engage in hands-on, team-based projects, applying engineering design principles from concept to testing. They learn to utilize Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools like SolidWorks and OpenRocket, and gain practical skills in areas such as composite-material layups, 3D printing, laser-cutting, electronics, and Arduino programming. The curriculum emphasizes iterative problem-solving, requiring participants to design, build, analyze, and refine functional systems. Beyond technical skills, the program fosters teamwork, communication, and critical thinking. Students also explore different engineering majors offered at UCLA and various engineering career paths through coursework, presentations, and guest lectures from industry professionals. The program culminates in a final project presentation and, for some tracks, a competition.
A typical day involves hands-on project work, lectures on engineering fundamentals and software, and team collaboration, often utilizing makerspace resources for building and testing designs.
This program is ideal for high school students with a budding interest in engineering who want to gain practical, team-based experience and explore various engineering disciplines in a university setting.
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