On February 25, 2017, SOM Associate Director Rupa Garai and Senior Structural Engineer Samantha Walker conducted a hands-on engineering workshop for sixth- through ninth-grade students. The workshop was part of a conference designed to encourage young girls to consider pursuing education and career options in science and mathematics.
Garai and Walker challenged the students to build bridges using a common food item: pasta. Attendees used basic tools, glue, and a variety of pasta shapes to develop and test small-scale bridges, while learning about principles of structural engineering, architecture, and design.
This year’s Tri-Valley Expanding Your Horizons conference took place at Diablo Valley College in San Ramon, California. About 300 girls attended from local school districts, including Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, Sunol, and San Ramon.