Orange County Branch Newsletter

March 2014

Younger Member Forum

Achievement Institute of Scientific Studies Foundation Program


By: Amy Choi

On Saturday, March 15th, ASCE OC YMF presented to a group of 27 bright high school students in the Achievement Institute of Scientific Studies (AISS) Foundation program. The AISS Foundation is a non-profit organization, which guides high achieving low-income students gain acceptance into a quality university or college. AISS offers a college readiness after-school program that provides workshops on STEM career awareness, life skills, mentoring, tutoring and much more. Amy Choi and Anirudh Vemula presented on the difference between an Architect and a Civil Engineer and the different career paths offered with either occupation. The students were unaware of the various branches of civil engineering and thought all civil engineers were structural engineers. Amy and Anirudh had a chance to explain what a day of an engineer is like from a designer’s perspective and from a construction management perspective. Many students had questions on what the pros and cons of being on the design side and on the construction side. After the presentation, the high school students did a design activity of creating their own water filtration system with limited materials. The biggest challenge of the activity was to figure out how to best filter out the food coloring in the water. One group’s filtration system was able to lighten the dark green water to a light green water. Based on the positive feedback from AISS, the students enjoyed learning about civil engineering as something more than engineers building tall structures. Amy and Anirudh enjoyed presenting and talking to each and every one of the students. ASCE OC YMF is looking forward to working with AISS again in the future and wishes the AISS students the best in their college endeavors. 

Related Groups/Committees

Sponsors