Promoting interest in engineering in the local community by "Walking on Water"

Abstract

San Diego, California is home to many high-tech companies requiring the services of engineers. The engineering department at the University of San Diego (USD) has responded to the need to promote the field of Engineering and its importance in society through its annual Walk On Water (WOW) Competition. In this event, participants design, construct, and pilot their shoes across a 25-meter pool. WOW is organized by the engineering student societies at USD and sponsored by industry and businesses within the local community. The WOW event is also used as a fun design project for teams of first-year engineering students at USD. Utilizing the engineering design process introduced in the classroom, student teams must consider three important design considerations: buoyancy, stability, and propulsion. In Fall 2002, the engineering students visited local high schools to present how they applied the engineering design process to design Walk On Water shoes. This service-learning project reinforces the USD students' comprehension of the design process and helps them develop their communication skills while encouraging younger students to consider engineering careers. Walk On Water at USD is a great learning experience that serves several purposes. It is a design project for freshmen engineering majors at USD, a project for high school science classes, an event which creates awareness of engineering in the local community, a forum for interaction of high school and college students, and a vehicle for upper-class engineering students to develop skills in planning and executing an event including fundraising and publicity. The paper will introduce the WOW event and then show how the competition provides a vessel to promote engineering and applied science throughout many areas within the local community.