Please join us on Tuesday, December 18 at 3:00 p.m. in GB202 (in the Galbraith Building) for a talk entitled Labrador Engineering Awareness Program (LEAP): Collaborative Engineering Outreach in Indigenous
Communities.
Please sign up on the doodle poll to indicate your attendance https://doodle.com/poll/3r3754iue3rwqbag
Presenters:
Raylene Mitchell, Nunatsiavut Beneficiary and 3rd Year Electrical Engineering Student, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dennis Saunders, Nunatsiavut Beneficiary and Labrador Outreach Coordinator, University of Toronto
Erin Bobicki, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, and member of the Dean’s Steering Committee on Indigenous Initiatives for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.
Abstract:
LEAP is an engineering outreach program that strives to motivate Indigenous youth to consider engineering as a career. The program was developed by faculty at the University of Toronto (UofT) in consultation with Indigenous groups, local industry, educational institutions, government and community organizations in Labrador. The objective is to engage youth approximately high school-aged and older by working on locally-relevant, technical problems (presented as case studies) in a way that is tied to the engineering curriculum, and demonstrates what engineers do and how they can contribute to their communities. LEAP is structured as a series of 5 consecutive two-hour engineering design workshops. During the workshops, the basic engineering design process, as taught in the first-year engineering design course at UofT, is introduced. The workshops also include hands-on activities, and connects youth with engineer-mentors. The outreach program was offered in five Labrador communities (Nain, Natuashish, Hopedale, Sheshatshiu and Happy Valley-Goose Bay) during October 2018. The outreach team consisted of professors, staff and students from UofT, an Inuk engineering co-op student from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and engineers and technical experts from Labrador (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) who received support from Vale and the Nunatsiavut government to participate. This seminar will discuss the motivation for the outreach program, curriculum development and program structure and delivery, as well as logistics. Successes of the program and challenges faced will be highlighted. Emphasis will be placed on the need to establish, build and maintain relationships with Indigenous communities, and to engage with community partners in the work of increasing access to engineering education for Indigenous peoples. Future plans to continue and expand the outreach program, as well as to develop engineering programs for the region will be discussed.
Please join us !
Afterwards delicious light refreshments will be served. All are welcome.