Motivating young people to develop an interest in engineering subjects is key to meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and making the world a better place. This is the philosophy behind successfully hosting a boot camp for students in selected secondary schools in Adamawa State by the AUN chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
The boot camp, organized in partnership with the Northeast Humanitarian and Innovation Hub, was a key feature of activities marking the 2022 World Engineering Day on the AUN campus. Officials of the Yola branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) also graced the occasion.
Seven secondary schools took part in the activities. Twenty-three students received awards for completing the boot camp program.
Dr. Abel Ajibisen, the AUN-IEEE chapter counselor and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador, explained the importance of the boot camp: "to encourage students in high school to develop great minds for engineering and emerging technologies such as; Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics."
Professor Ajibesin, the pioneer interim Dean of the AUN School of Engineering, also said that the boot camp aimed to nurture the participants' academic intuition in STEM, and to build inter-school relationships among the selected secondary schools.
Among the themes explored during the day was the Concept of Engineering, Design process, Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), and the Six Minds for the Future.
The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Attahir Yusuf, also stressed the importance of innovation and engineers' role in solving society's problems. "Our environment today is facing much tribulation due to change in climate and resources depletion; something has to be done otherwise in the nearest future we will have no safe environment to live in."
Professor Attahir said it is up to engineers to develop tools and designs to develop technologies that will help society.
Newly promoted Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering in the AUN School of Engineering, Dr. Victoria Adams, in her speech "Women in Engineering," encouraged her audience to be productive and get involved in innovation,
"What a man can do a woman can do even better. As the Provost earlier said, we are the past, present and the future; without engineering there's nothing like sustainability. We innovate, design, produce, maintain and sustain.
"Think about the things that make you unhappy when you see them, let those things motivate you to create your own world, a world where everyone is comfortable, pollution is minimized, where sanitation is easy to attain, a world where everyone has access to clean water. This is a challenge to us all.”
Reported by Confidence Pardon