Honda Partnership Outreach Initiatives

ADOE Endowment Supports Successful STEM Education Initiative

The Honda-OSU Partnership's newest endowment was created in 2006 to advance diversity, outreach and engagement (ADOE) while promoting interest and awareness in engineering.

A planning team from Honda and Ohio State University created a nationally recognized precollege STEM initiative in partnership with the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE) for high school students in Coumbus Public Schools that:

• Builds a network for advocates of STEM education within local middle and high schools
• Promotes, supports and advises existing junior chapters of the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE), a group with which OSU and Honda were already involved.
• Supports and enhances existing high school math/science clubs and competitions.

The Enhanced Pre-College Initiative (EPCI) program at Columbus Public's Walnut Ridge High School was a huge success, exceeding expectations in nearly all areas and has expanded to 3 additional CPS high schools.

EPCI, a full-year academic enrichment experience with a summer camp, encompassed all three goals of the new endowment. It functioned as a STEM club supported by a network of advocates or partners that include university, school, industry, parents, professional engineering organizations, and the community. These partners support the club by identifying resources, providing advice on policy and procedures, and assisting with the implementation of club activities.

Using the existing NSBE Precollege Initiative toolkit as a program guide, the Walnut Ridge EPCI program focused on four major components during the 06-07 school year:

•  weekly meetings attended regularly by 24 students for planning activities and workshop presentations

•  competitions such as FIRST Robotics and the Try-Math-A-Lon promoted team building and cooperation among the group

•  conferences and special events, including the national NSBE conference held in Columbus in May 2007

•  summer camp at OSU prepared students to lead their club and develop plans for the 07-08 school year.

As a result, student GPAs improved from below 3.0 to 3.2 to meet the program goals as did parental invovlement and interest in STEM clubs. Columbus Public continues to add high schools to the EPCI program.

"Additional impacts include the increased number of PCI clubs – from 1 to 44 clubs in the Columbus area; increased number of NSBE Jr. members – from 10 members to 3,273," noted Minnie McGee, assistant dean, Minority Engineering Program. She added that two of the three Walnut Ridge seniors who graduated are now enrolled in STEM majors in college and the other student's college major will involve extensive use of technology.

Math Medal and Scholarship

Marking it's fifth anniversary, the Honda-OSU Math Medal was awarded on Nov. 3 to an exceptional group of seniors in the 15-county area surrounding Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc. for outstanding mathematics achievement.

Math medal recipients in the Class of 2009 are eligible to apply for the Honda-OSU Partnership Scholarship at The Ohio State University College of Engineering in the amount of $2,500 per year. In addition, the scholarship can be renewed for a total of four years.

Last spring, public and private high schools in central and western Ohio near Honda of America Manufacturing were invited to select their best senior math scholar in the Class of 2009 based on academic performance at the end of the student's junior year. Below are the Class of 2008 Honda-OSU Math Medal recipients honored Nov. 3, 2008 at Honda in Marysville.

Schools in the following counties are eligible to participate in the Honda-OSU Math Medal Award:

• Allen
• Auglaize
• Champaign
• Clark
• Darke
• Delaware
• Franklin
• Hardin
• Logan
• Madison
• Marion
• Mercer
• Miami
• Shelby
• Union
  

Honda of America Manufacturing Engineer Jim Wolever (below right) congratulates the Class of 2009 on their academic success and welcomes the honorees and their guests to the fifth annual Math Medal Award ceremony at Honda in Marysville.

With the goal of recognizing superior math scholarship, the math medal program also was created to increase interest in the profession of engineering as a career choice for graduating seniors. In addition, the scholarships will offer incentive for students interested in engineering careers to pursue their higher education goals at The Ohio State University's College of Engineering and their future employment goals at Honda of America.

Below is OSU College of Engineering Interim Dean Greg Washington awarding the Class of 2009 Math Medal to Lu (Serena) Bai, math medal winner from Dublin Jerome High School in Franklin County, at the breakfast on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2008.

High School Awareness

Engineers in Motion, a week-long camp in June for high school juniors and seniors, helps students learn about the different areas in engineering with hands-on activities designed to increase self-confidence, self-esteem, team building, communication and presentation skills. Another goal of the program is to have 50% participation by females as a means of introducing career opportunities and combating the declining number of women receiving bachelor's degrees in engineering.

In June 2008, 34 high school students spent an exciting week in OSU residence halls while focusing on a variety of engineering disciplines. Throughout the week, the 16 male and 18 female high schoolers met with engineers, engineering faculty and OSU students to learn about eight engineering fields such as chemical and biomolecular, automotive, robotics, and computer science. For more information about the Engineers in Motion summer camp, click http://wie.eng.ohio-state.edu/EIM.htm.

Registration for the June 2009 Engineers in Motion program runs from Jan. 1-March 13, 2009.

Supported under the Endowment for the Growth of Student Activities.

Prairie View A&M University

A new relationship formed with Prairie View A&M University (Houston, TX), an Historically Black College (HBC) in the A&M system of Texas brought R.J. Martin to OSU in 2003 to work alongside the Future Truck student project team at the Center for Automotive Research. R.J. is an officer in American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a member of Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).

Objectives
- promote collaboration in research and education

- Initiate a summer intern program

- providing leverage for federal, state, and private funds