My Story
Engineering was completely new to me before I entered high school. However, my life has been filled with engineering since an Introduction to Engineering course in freshman year. I continued to take engineering courses at school. I took two summer courses at a local community college and completed the USC Summer Program. This year, we were selected as one of the 13 InvenTeams nationwide who received a grant of $10,000 to develop a system that mitigates the communication barriers between the referees and deaf basketball players. As one of the main developers of the system, I started to learn electronics and developed a prototype that provides haptic feedback when triggered by the input, the whistle’s sound.
My Project
My goal is to invite children with special needs - in particular girls - to participate in a course where I teach basic engineering topics, including civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. I intend to supplement my lectures with hands-on activities that follow the engineering design principles. By fostering hands-on experience with engineering, girls will now familiarize themselves with engineering and practice their communication and social skills. By the end of the project, the students will be able to grasp basic engineering concepts. At the same time, they will also develop skills that are not taught in the existing curriculum. This will hopefully empower them to continue pursuing the field of engineering in the future.