Dr. Otakuye Conroy recently hosted two students from the Native American Research Internship program. The program places Native American undergraduates in health-related research labs for a 10-week paid internship, and is run through the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah. One student, Delilah Robb, won the undergraduate poster competition at the Association of American Indian Physicians annual conference for her work on water quality and endocrine disruptors on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. The second student, Davian Thompson, won 1^st place in the undergraduate poster competition for environmental engineering at the annual Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native American in Science (SACNAS) conference.

The upcoming University of Utah’s annual Engineering Day is designed to leave local high school students with one important thought — there is a world of possibilities to explore here.

This year’s event, which is being sponsored by Rio Tinto, will be held Saturday, Oct. 11, starting at 9 a.m. in the Warnock Engineering Building lobby, 72 S. Central Campus Dr., in Salt Lake City. Registration is at 8:45 a.m., and the day will begin with a welcome from College of Engineering Dean Richard Brown and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Ajay Nahata. Each student can sign up for up to three tours and presentations among 27 different disciplines. Students can register by going to www.coe.utah.edu/eng_day.

For several hours, high school students — mostly from Utah — will be able to tour engineering labs on campus and talk with professors about their current research. The day was created to introduce students to the university’s engineering college and to encourage them to pursue their education here.

“Engineering Day at the U is a wonderful way for high school students to learn about opportunities in engineering and computer science,” said Brown. “Lab tours and demonstrations give students a glimpse into how engineering inventions improve the quality of life for humankind.”

In addition to touring the engineering labs, prospective students also will participate in demonstrations ranging from stepping into a driving simulator at the Utah Traffic Lab to watching civil engineers build a mock bridge and tower. Other disciplines students can learn about include scientific computing and visualization, earthquake analysis, ergonomics and safety, nuclear engineering, robotics, and video game design from the university’s nationally-recognized Entertainment Arts & Engineering: Master Games Studio.

“This is the opportunity for us to showcase the entire college to high school students at one place and at one time,” said Morgan Boyack, academic coordinator for the U’s College of Engineering who is in charge of Engineering Day 2014.

Engineering Day is just one of several ways academic advisors with the U’s College of Engineering reach out to local students to entice them to attend. The college also hosts field trips for local high schools, and advisors also attend schools to give presentations and feature alumni speakers.

The U’s College of Engineering undergraduate program has steadily moved up the U.S. News & World Report America’s Best Colleges ranking and was listed 57^th in the country for 2015. It was tied for the fastest-rising undergraduate program of any engineering college at a U.S. public university.