Detroit Science Center opening features young “Rube Goldbergs”

EDITORS: The Detroit Science Center opening will be held July 28, beginning at 10 a.m. The Rube Goldberg projects will run continuously throughout the opening celebration, and students will remain on hand to talk about their projects. The Center is located at John R and Warren Avenues in Detroit. The press is invited to attend.

ANN ARBOR—Eighth- and ninth-grade students participating in the University of Michigan College of Engineering‘s Summer Engineering Academy (SEA) will debut their own “Rube Goldberg” inventions at the unveiling of the newly-remodeled Detroit Science Center. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and engineer Rube Goldberg was known for his drawings of exceptionally convoluted inventions to solve extremely simple problems.

The students will demonstrate and explain the convoluted machines they had to design and build to accomplish the goal of pouring a glass of water. The students will be on hand to explain their work as their inventions run continuously.

The students are participants of the College of Engineering’s Summer Engineering Academy, an on-campus residential experience designed to interest students in and prepare them for engineering careers. SEA hosts approximately 300 pre-college students each summer. Students participate in academic classes and games as well as hands-on projects; go on industry field trips; and meet with engineering professionals, students and faculty at the U-M College of Engineering. The students participating in the Rube Goldberg project are sponsored by the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP), which is sponsoring 60 eighth-tenth grade students at the College this summer.

“These Rube Goldberg projects are a great way to introduce young people to engineering concepts in a way that is fun and enriching,” said Derrick Scott, director of the College’s Minority Engineering Program Office, which sponsors the Academy. “We try to challenge the students as we instill confidence and pique their interest in engineering.”

The project showcase is in keeping with the Detroit Science Center’s mission to make science a fun, accessible, and interactive experience.