Engineering Exploration Week 2020

Educators Edition

Open to Colorado high school and community college educators and professionals

Calling all educators!

Spring 2024
Lory Student Center

Join the Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering for a free professional development event for teachers, guidance counselors, community college advisors, and other educational professionals, to learn how to best support students with interests in engineering majors.

Thanks for a great 2023 event!

Thank you to all of the high school teachers, counselors, and educators who took time away on a busy Saturday to attend our inaugural event!

Watch our recording of Professor Hussam Mahmoud’s keynote address, along with a download of his featured slides. 

CSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Hussam Mahmoud stands in front of an experiment, holding a piece of metal.

Professor Hussam Mahmoud talked with Engineering Source on how educators could be successful in transitioning their students to college and beyond.

Mahmoud is the George T. Abell Professor in Infrastructure in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. He is a recipient of various awards, including the Meroney Family Chi Epsilon Teaching Award, and recently spoke at the international COP27 convention in Egypt.

He obtained his BSc and MSc in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

He has taught different undergraduate and graduate courses at CSU while placing emphasis on multi- and cross-disciplinary knowledge, including for example how crack growth models for connections in steel bridges can be used to evaluate crack growth in hard human or animal tissues such as teeth and bones.

Mahmoud’s research is focused on sustainable and resilient infrastructure and communities with emphasis on developing structural engineering models to predict damage under extreme events and socio-physical models to capture the recovery of systems as influenced by human behavior and socio-economic policies. He authored over 250 publications and has given more than 120 presentations including 100 invited talks at national and international conferences and workshops.

He has chaired and served on numerous technical committees, including the ASCE Committees on Fire Protection and on Multi-hazard Mitigation. Dr. Mahmoud is an Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEED) Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute. He is a recipient of various awards, including the Meroney Family Chi Epsilon Teaching Award, the American Institute of Steel Construction early faculty career award, the American Iron and Steel Institute Robert J. Dexter Memorial Lecture award, and the Air Force summer faculty fellowship award.

He has recently been selected by the NASEM among the 22 New Voices Cohort from across the U.S to engage outstanding early and mid-career Science, Engineering, and Medicine, leaders to provide new perspectives on issues and public communication modes for the National Academies.

He has been invited to various symposia by the U.S. National Academies, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. His research has received media coverage through citations and interviews in numerous venues, including Nature Climate Change, The U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNN.

Watch Professor Mahmoud's keynote address

Play Video about Video thumbnail of Engineering Exploration Day: Educators' Edition keynote speaker Hussam Mahmoud.
  • 0:00 – Slide 1 (Introduction)
  • 0:40 – Side 2 (Background, U. of Minnesota and Lehigh U.)
  • 1:30 – Slide 3 and 4 (Background, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
  • 2:03 – Slide 5 (Background, Colorado State University)
  • 2:53 – Slide 6 (Outline of the Presentation)
  • 3:43 – Slide 7 and 8 (Motivation for STEM, logic and analysis tools)
  • 4:28 – Slide 9 (Motivation for STEM, economic competitiveness)
  • 5:00 – Slide 10 (Motivation for STEM, addressing complex problems)
  • 6:02 – Slide 11, 12, and 13 (Trends in STEM, addressing complex problems)
  • 7:23 – Slide 14 (STEM Education Trends in Research, vulnerability to wildfires)
  • 7:45 – Slide 15 (Trends in Research, wildfires as a global problem)
  • 8:09 – Slide 16 (Trends in Research, stages of wildfire events)
  • 8:34 – Slide 17 (Trends in Research, wildfire propagation, Games in STEM)
  • 10:20 – Slide 18 (Trends in Research, wildfire propagation)
  • 10:51 – Slide 19 (Trends in Research, community fire propagation)
  • 12:53 – Slide 20 (Trends in Research, community fire propagation)
  • 14:09 – Slide 21 (Trends in Research, community fire propagation)
  • 14:42 – Slide 22 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovering from extreme events)
  • 14:53 – Slide 23 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovery from disasters)
  • 15:25 – Slide 24 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovery from disasters)
  • 15:31 – Slide 25 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovery from disasters)
  • 16:21 – Slide 26 (STEM Education Trends in Research, interdependence)
  • 17:15 – Slide 27 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovery of ports)
  • 18:31 – Slide 28 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovery of hospitals)
  • 19:40 – Slide 29 (STEM Education Trends in Research, holistic view of the problem)
  • 21:31 – Slide 30 (STEM Education Trends in Research, the need to defy the norm)
  • 22:41 – Slide 31 (STEM Education Trends in Research, Gotham city as a testbed)
  • 23:58 – Slide 32 (STEM Education Trends in Research, recovering from social disruption)
  • 26:56 – Slide 33 (STEM Education Trends in Research, potential impact)
  • 27:39 – Slide 34 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, what else is missing?
  • 28:04 – Slide 35 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, insight from NASEM New Voices)
  • 28:51 – Slide 36 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, expanding knowledge)
  • 29:18 – Slide 37 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, expanding knowledge)
  • 29:38 – Slide 38 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, why knowledge expansion)
  • 30:49 – Slide 39 (Characteristics of Future Engineers, why knowledge expansion)
  • 32:22 – Slide 40 through 44 (Final thoughts and Acknowledgements)

Download the slideshow

Time/chapter notes for slides are listed below, corresponding to chapter notes in the video

Please contact us for more information.

Prepare for Engineering Exploration Day!

Admissions requirements and deadlines

Learn about our wholistic review process, our academic controls, and when the application deadlines are.

Facility tours

Join our student ambassador team to check out our state-of-the-art facilities and where our students practice hands-on learning.

Department major overviews

Interact with current faculty and staff to learn about each engineering major that we offer and how to advise students on which path might fuel their passion.

Meals included!

Breakfast and Lunch will be served

Lab demonstrations

Led by our dedicated team of lab engineers, experience some of the hands-on fun that our students get to enjoy!

Interactive learning sessions and workshops

Topics include: scholarships, placement tests, summer bridge programs, study abroad programs, diversity programs in engineering, transferring college credits, and interactive student panels.

Located to the southwest of the Lory Student Center and west of Morgan Library

The LSC website provides maps of each floor of the building. Most sessions take place on the third floor/300 level.

Spring 2023 Schedule

While upcoming Educators’ events may have different sessions, we hope this schedule from our Spring 2023 event will give you a good sense of what the event is about.

Morning

8:00 – 8:30 a.m.

Check-in/ Breakfast

Third floor

Third Floor in front of Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom

8:30 – 9:00 a.m.

Welcome, Admissions and Major Overviews

Grand Ballroom D

Welcome to the Educators Edition! We’ll give you an overview of our engineering majors, and what we’re looking for when it comes time for student admissions.

9:15 – 10:00 a.m.
& 10:15 – 11:00 a.m.

Learning Sessions

These sessions occur in the same rooms each hour.

Learn from current engineering students about their experience applying to and attending CSU.

Learn about our residential learning community, summer bridge programs, diversity programs in engineering, and Scott Scholars program.

Hear from our academic advisors on how students are supported once they enroll at CSU. Advisors will explore transfer credits, placement tests, credit requirements, major changes, study abroad opportunities, and more.

Learn from our Career Education Manager, faculty, staff, and alumni about how students discover what career opportunities are available in Engineering.​

11:10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The “Math Problem” Workshop

Ballroom A

Join us for a discussion about helping students be prepared for the math in college, and what they need to know to be a success in their first year and beyond.

Afternoon

12 – 1 p.m.

Lunch and Keynote Speaker

Grand Ballroom D
It’s time to eat lunch, and to welcome Professor Hussam Mahmoud for our keynote address.

Professor Mahmoud will explore current and future trends in STEM education, and how STEM education directly parallels his groundbreaking research in resilience. Students who are well trained to think in a specific way will hit the ground running as they move into college and beyond, shifting successfully from students to researchers making an everyday impact on society.

1 – 2 p.m.

Lab Tours and Demonstrations

Locations vary

Enjoy tours of our lab facilities, where are students learn fascinating engineering and research skills. 

2 – 3 p.m.

Networking Happy Hour

Lory Student Center Theatre

Attendees are invited to a social hour in our beautiful LSC Theatre!