Science Club Field Trips
ECC grad James Glass gives current students a tour of the Boeing satellite plant in El Segundo.
The ECC Science Club has been trekking across Southern California recently, with field trips covering nature and industry to complement their classroom studies. A recent tour of the Boeing Satellite Development Center in El Segundo gave students the opportunity to view what is regarded as the best satellite factory on earth. 
Students, along with professor Joe Holliday, saw several RV-sized satellites and spacecraft under construction, including the soon-to-be-famous "Starliner" that will be used next year for astronauts. The group learned about the huge solar panels used in satellites, and how they must be suspended by helium balloons in the factory. The huge chambers (vacuum, heat, cold, sound, radio waves) used to test spacecraft were also part of the tour. Other high-tech areas, such as the computer system and 3D printing shop, were featured. The visit was especially meaningful as design engineer and ECC graduate James Glass led the tour!
Another ECC Science Club field trip took students from the desert to the mountains. On this adventure, students explored three drastically different ecosystems within a half an hour of each other. Starting in the Mojave and Colorado deserts in Joshua Tree National Park, students and professor Karla Villatoro then rode on the largest rotating aerial tram from the Palm Springs desert up into the conifer forest of the San Jacinto Mountains. The more adventurous students climbed to San Jacinto Peak, the second highest point in Southern California. The group completed the tour at a palm oasis that stands out as a lush green and cool respite in the middle of a hot desert.
Other trips this semester include a Science Club/geology major tour of the Natural History Museum Invertebrate Paleontology Collection in nearby Gardena. Students will view fossils such as the second-oldest fossil on earth, and insect fossils extracted by dissolving the rock. In addition, geology majors will make a group presentation to the South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society at the Torrance Library on Dec. 4. Students will present a five-minute talk on a geologic concept and location that they have visited with ECC during the past year or two.
