Education Outreach Programs
These activities are volunteer driven and couldn’t happen without your support! Please contact Risa Hartman at rhartman@che.utexas.edu to learn more about getting involved. Risa’s affiliations: MRSEC and NASCENT.
Girl Day at UT Austin
Students and their parents or educators come to UT Austin for an afternoon of engineering fun. UT Austin’s national award winning Girl Day, presented by the Women in Engineering Program (WEP), gives over 2,000 first through eighth grade students a chance to:
- Have fun doing grade-specific, hands-on engineering activities,
- Meet students, professors and engineers from industry, and
- See what it’s like to be an engineer.
Volunteers lead hands-on engineering activities, answer questions for all our guests, set-up and clean-up, and more. Inquire for more details on how you can get involved.
Explore UT
This is an event that opens up the entire campus to local school children, their teachers and parents. It is held each Spring at UT and different departments sponsor activity booths and demonstrations that are creative, engaging, educational and above all fun!
Middle School Science Academies
Partnerships with several local middle schools have been established to give those students an opportunity to explore the world of science and engineering while engaging with UT graduate and undergraduate students. These academies occur once a month, last approximately one hour and consist of engineering/science lessons taught through group activities and experiments. Volunteers are needed to run activities with the students.
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders
The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders (ARS) dedicates itself to prepare young women to attend and graduate from college, commit to a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle, lead with courage and compassion, and solve problems creatively and ethically in support of our global community. ARS is a public all-girls school of choice that serves grades 6 – 12 for the Austin Independent School District.
Science Clubs at the Texas School for the Deaf
Educational and fun monthly science clubs are held for high school students at the Texas School for the Deaf. Students are engaged in active learning with hands-on activities and experiments that allow them to explore all aspects of science. Program runs from 12:30-1:45 pm, once a month. No ASL necessary – Interpreters provided.
Science Saturdays/Sundays at the Thinkery
These afternoons are a great way to introduce children to the wonders of science in an informal and kid-friendly way, piquing their interest in the subject and showing them that science is fun! There are different hands-on activities that have been designed for each Sunday, each having a different themed focus. The program operates on Sunday afternoons at the Thinkery, Austin Children’s Museum.
Science Fair at the Texas School for the Deaf
Each year all TSD High School students complete a project for their annual Science Fair. Volunteers are needed in a couple different capacities – helping students create their projects and also acting as judges the day of the event. If you would like to help with the creation of the projects, you can sign up for one or more sessions that occur weekly between the months of January and April, Wednesdays from 3:30 – 5:00 pm. For those interested in judging projects, the fair is usually held during the month of May.
NanoDays
Held at the Thinkery, this annual event brings university researchers together with science museum educators, creating unique learning experiences. NanoDays engages people of all ages in a miniscule world where materials have special properties and new technologies have spectacular promise. The celebration combines simple hands-on activities for children with lots of fun! NanoDays activities demonstrate different, unexpected properties of materials at the nanoscale.
High School Tutoring
Help local youth in our community learn essential math and science skills during tutoring sessions at Austin area high schools and middle schools.
