About Pratt // Our School
Outreach
Professor Gary Ybarra at local elementary school.
The Pratt School of Engineering sponsors educational outreach
for students from K-12 through the undergraduate level with
local/regional involvement and national programs. At the
K-12th grade level, these programs are designed to create
positive, hands-on learning environments for students and
are designed to inspire kids to pursue careers in engineering
and science. At the college level, these programs offer
challenging research opportunities which allow undergraduates
from colleges and universities across the nation to spend
the summer researching at Pratt. These outreach programs
also offer an opportunity for Duke students interested in
participating in K-12 outreach and in engineering and science
education to gain hands-on mentoring and teaching experience
with local K-12th grade students.
These outreach efforts include programs aimed at helping
populations underrepresented in engineering and the sciences --
women, students with disabilities, and minority students --
build confidence that they can succeed and fulfill their
career dreams by providing role models and enriching educational
and research experiences.
Professor Lisa Huettel at Duke School Days
College programs involve students from colleges and universities
nationwide, providing aspiring undergraduate engineering
and science students with the opportunity to conduct intensive
research here at Pratt. Such research makes these students
highly competitive for jobs, internships, and graduate school
scholarships. A hallmark of these programs is long-term
follow-up, ensuring that a positive experience translates
into career impetus.
Educating Today's Engineers
Headings with
expand for more information.
Opportunities for students from colleges and universities across the nation to research at Duke
Through National Science Foundation funding, leveraged with
other funding sources, the Research Experiences for
Undergraduates Program offers challenging research
opportunities to students nationwide to spend a summer researching
at Pratt on the Duke University campus. This nine-week paid
program offers research in all the departments of the Pratt
School of Engineering—Biomedical
Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil and Environmental
Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
The REU Program is under the direction of Martha Absher, Assistant
Dean for Education and Outreach Programs. It has an emphasis
on including populations underrepresented in engineering- women,
underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities.
All eligible students are encouraged to apply. The application
and project descriptions for summer 2008 is available online.
Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers.
Opportunities at the K-12 grade level, and opportunities for Pratt undergraduates to participate in K-12 outreach
Interaction with Pratt female graduate students at the
Duke Action Camp gives 6th- to 8th-grade
girls from across the nation a chance to take part in
laboratory engineering experiments and work with successful
engineering female role models. The summer of 2003 represented
Pratt’s 12th year of our involvement with this program.
Undergraduate Pratt engineering students spent 10 hours
per week delivering hands-on lessons in mathematics as
part of the MUSCLE program (Math Understanding
through the Science of Life). Funded through
the GE Fund for three years, the MUSCLE program is designed
to increase the number of students who choose science
related careers by helping them to improve their mathematical
skills. This generous funding gift from the GE Fund allows
Pratt School of Engineering to significantly increase
our impact on and involvement with the K-8 population
of the Durham public school system and to improve the
mathematical skills of a large number of underrepresented
minorities in the Durham community. Participating schools
are Lakewood Elementary and Rogers-Herr Middle School
in Durham.
At the high school level, Pratt faculty and students
work with 8th-to 10th-grade students from the Raleigh/Durham
area through the Summer Science Institute.
Teaching the Teachers
Impacting science and engineering teaching and curriculum at the K-12th grade level
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Pratt
and the Duke Center for Inquiry Based Learning led a TASC
Force, as we call it, as part of a Teachers
and Scientists Collaborating program. We are
working to narrow achievement gaps, improve end-of-grade
science and mathematics scores, and improve the quality
of science teaching in four North Carolina school districts.
We aim to establish a cadre of scientists from Duke, the
Research Triangle and across North Carolina. These scientists
will provide ongoing teacher assistance in Alamance/Burlington,
Iredell/Statesville, Harnett and Orange Counties.
Duke has recently partnered with the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction to launch a national
pre-engineering program designed to help students prepare
for college engineering coursework and build excitement
for careers in engineering called Project Lead
the Way. PLTW is an established pre-engineering
program that provides fully-developed curriculum for high
school and middle school; extensive professional development
curriculum for teachers; and school counselor professional
development training and conferences.
