Students learn systems design and leadership
Research, Academic and Mentoring Pathways (RAMP) 2024 was a study in leadership and mentorship, as 17 engineering aspirants spent six weeks on campus learning about environmental monitoring, inclusive teamwork, communication and system design.
This year’s RAMP cohort included nine high school students from Chelmsford, Billerica and Nashua High Schools, and eight first-year UMass Lowell students starting their engineering programs in Fall 2024.
Professionals from Abiomed, Analog Devices, Azenta Life Sciences, BAE Systems and Red Hat Inc. participated in the RAMP 2024 program, engaging students in conversations on user-centric design and systems engineering while sharing personal stories about their career trajectories, leadership styles and company dynamics.
Working in teams, the RAMP cohort built an environmental monitoring system; developed dashboards on the web to capture the measurements of air quality; and evaluated their system with commercial air quality sensors loaned to RAMP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England Regional Laboratory, located in North Chelmsford.
The high school students designed and deployed a new project that they named EHAWKS (Engineering for Human Advancement, Well-being and Knowledge for Success).
The EHAWKS mission is to engage students in their high schools on engineering projects that exemplify the human element and bring to their peers some of the experiences they’ve gained, connecting to the UMass Lowell and industry community.
The students were led, mentored and guided by three graduate students: Vinh Tran, Emi Aoki and Flore Norceide, as well as undergraduate Nell Neary (RAMP ’23). All are currently engaged In research in the Center for Advanced Computation and Telecommunications.
Prof. Sumudu Lewis from the School of Education conducted workshops on inclusive teamwork and design practice, and Prof. Orlando Arias from Electrical and Computer Engineering helped students build skills in designing secure systems.
RAMP thanks our industry partners and the Francis College of Engineering for their continued sponsorship.