UW Hosts Students in Energy Summer Institute

June 14, 2012

Twenty-one students from Wyoming and three other states will get a hands-on look at energy innovation at the University of Wyoming next week.

The annual Energy Summer Institute, sponsored by the UW School of Energy Resources, is a one-week science camp designed to fire students' imagination related to challenging energy problems facing the world. Participating students are incoming sophomores and juniors in high school.

Classes will be taught by fellows in UW's Science Posse program.

"The Energy Summer Institute gives students an opportunity to learn about higher education and what UW offers, and they have fun doing it," says Don Roth, SER deputy director for academics and Science Posse director. "The program provides Science Posse fellows the opportunity to share their passion for science and education."

The students will learn about global positioning systems, compass navigation and triangulation. They will build robots, along with a car that runs on saltwater, and work with a photovoltaic solar panel kit exploring how the angle of the solar panels to the sun affects power output. 

Other course topics, along with instructors, are:

  • Exploring physics of the movies. For example, could Spiderman really swing between buildings? Taught by Ashley Driscoll.
  • "Work with Arduinos," an open-source electronics prototyping platform. Taught by Cara Wiblemo.
  • "Exploring ‘gadgets' of the movies." For example, how do night-vision goggles work? Taught by Bri Cales.
  • "Exploring the biological energy of bugs," such as methane emissions of insects. Taught by Marjie MacGregor.

A field trip to visit the Laramie River Station power plant in Wheatland rounds out the program.

Participating students, listed by their hometowns, are:

Afton -- Nicholas Demler.

Basin -- Michael Lawrence.

Buffalo -- Ty LaBounty.

Casper -- Taylor Bleizeffer and Conor Frankland.

Cheyenne -- Parker GrandPre.

Fort Bridger -- Holden Bindl.

Fort Washakie -- Loveeda White.

Green River -- Alexander Marchal

Greybull -- Annaliese Fitzsimmons.

Lander -- Brennen Mazur.

Laramie -- Benjamin Engel and Lia Tan.

Pine Haven -- Savanah Richter.

Riverton -- Drew Whiteman.

Sinclair -- Benjamin Oman.

St. Stephens -- Sierra Pingree.

Fort Collins, Colo. -- Angelina Novelli.

Lakewood, Colo. -- Rachel Mills.

Potomac, Md. -- Matthew Fisher.

Rhinelander, Wis. -- Gabrielle Millot.

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