El Camino College recently welcomed a group of UCLA students who ran an Arduino-based workshop for 17 ECC engineering students who have backgrounds in calculus, physics and computer science. Linked to an existing ECC-UCLA partnership, the activity was designed to support the development of our engineering program. ECC students learned applications of Arduino software, and the importance of collaboration with hands-on projects, which provides a foundation for our future circuits course. We look forward to more interaction and activities with UCLA on behalf of engineering faculty and students.
Through another component of our UCLA partnership, three ECC students who completed research at UCLA over the summer will travel to Washington, D.C. in February 2020 to participate in the annual Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM. Hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program and the National Science Foundation, the conference is aimed at college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the NSF HRD Unit, including underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities. Each of the El Camino College students – Bryant Espino, Daniele Carmelo, and Brandon Illescas – was mentored by a UCLA grad student; in turn, each of our students mentored two high school students.