Several interactive learning stations designed for the non-profit "Breathe Better Bus" will be among the more than 60 student-built engineering projects demonstrated at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory Fall Design Expo on Saturday, Dec. 9.
A popular, educational event for K-12 students and their families, the semi-annual Design Expo is free and open to the public.
The expo will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the College of Engineering and Applied Science's award-winning Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, located on Regent Drive about one block south of Colorado Avenue. Free parking will be available in the Regent Drive Autopark, Lot 436, across the street from the ITL Laboratory.
An educational program of Colorado聮s Breathe Better Foundation, the Breathe Better Bus is a 40-foot bus powered by natural fuel, which will hit the streets of Denver next fall. The bus will be converted into a traveling classroom, containing a variety of interactive stations to educate youth about the importance of lung health and clean air.
Students will be able to learn about the anatomy and function of a normal lung, effects of asthma, hazards of smoking tobacco, indoor and outdoor air quality and more. Assistant Professor Shelly Miller, an expert on indoor air pollution and controls, is supervising the students in developing the exhibits, slated for installation in the bus next spring.
Other student-built engineering projects that will be on display at the Design Expo include new product inventions such as an improved telemark ski binding, an innovative lawn watering system that reduces water losses to evaporation and a hands-free toilet seat lid.
Students also will exhibit assistive technology devices to assist individual clients using wheelchairs, environmental tools to aerate stream water, deployable structures that could be used on spacecraft, and Rube Goldberg contraptions that perform simple functions in complex ways.
The projects represent the work of more than 350 undergraduate engineering students over the fall semester.
The event is sponsored by Dell Computer Corp., which will participate in judging the projects along with other volunteers from industry, government and the community. An awards ceremony will be held at the close of the Design Expo, during which prizes will be given to the best project in each category along with a "People聮s Choice" award selected by community members attending the event.
For more information, call (303) 492-7222.