Outreach Focus GROUP

This is an outreach opportunity open to students of any department or academic level. The Optics Society at the University of Michigan (OSUM) is initiating a collaborative outreach project which involves the disassembly and reassembly of recycled electronics. In addition to finding creative ways to reuse unwanted electronics, the goal of the project is to use the process of reverse engineering to teach children about product design and the electrical/mechanical/optical systems used in the products. Further, we would like to come up with innovative ideas for projects that can be constructed from the scrap parts of the various recycled products. We hope to encourage playful exploration and tinkering with technology at an early age. This has been found to be essential in sparking the curiosity, self-confidence, and critical thinking skills associated with future interest and success in STEM fields and careers. Our target audience for this project will be underrepresented/undeserved elementary, middle, and high school students.

We are hosting a focus group to experiment with the deconstruction of the recycled electronics and to assist in coming up with reassembly project ideas. All of the recycled products, tools, and dinner for the evening will be provided. The details of the event can be found be below. You don't have to be there the whole time, feel free come by when you can. If you plan on attending the focus group, or if you are interested in volunteering when we bring the project to pre-college students, please fill out the RSVP form.

Date: Wednesday, October 24th

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Where: 3rd Floor Conference Room, Engineering Research Building 1

RSVP Form: https://goo.gl/forms/A2nN4oi7zSFyWoj92

If you have any questions, you may contact eboard-osum@umich.edu.

Thank you all for your consideration in helping us accelerate this project!