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Intensive BRIDGE Prepares Incoming Students

During five demanding summer weeks, 25 incoming engineering freshmen underwent a kind of "boot camp" at the UConn campus, comprising classroom instruction, study sessions and tutoring aimed at preparing them for the freshman year experience. A component of the School of Engineering's Diversity Program, the residential BRIDGE program targets admitted freshmen who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented among the nation's engineers, including women, African Americans, Hispanics, Puerto Ricans and Native Americans.

Thanks to a generous donation from jet-engine giant Pratt & Whitney Corporation, BRIDGE participants are able to engage in the varied educational and campus activities -- including all BRIDGE coursework, dormitory, meals, tuition and books -- at no cost. Social, recreational and cultural activities are integrated into the program. After successfully completing BRIDGE, students may qualify for either a stipend of up to $800 or one of several generous, renewable scholarships of up to $2,000 per year.

Among this year's participants were Matthew Williston and Emmanuel Jones, both of whom hail from Bloomfield, CT and graduated from University High School of Science & Engineering, a highly competitive five-year old Hartford magnet school. Cara Redding of Ardsley, NY and Amanda Card of Shrewsbury, MA also attended this year's BRIDGE program, and all four praised the experience.

Matthew, Emmanuel and Cara plan to study Mechanical Engineering, while Amanda is enrolled in the Biomedical Engineering program. The students said they first became interested in engineering, at least conceptually, at an early age. "As a kid, I was always building things and interested in knowing how things operate. I liked to build models," said Matthew, who once retrofitted a miniature snowplow onto a remote control car. He admitted that "It was mostly for fun. It wasn't that effective for shoveling heavy snowfall, but it worked with about an inch" of the fluffy stuff.

For Emmanuel, building his first go-kart was the experience that sparked his early interest in engineering. "When I understood that mechanical engineering is all about building things, I was excited," he recalled.

Both Matthew and Emmanuel were members of their high school's FIRST Robotics team, which fared well in competition.

For Cara, the frontier of sustainable energy is the subjects that evokes her excitement. "I'm interested in alternative energy. I liked the sciences in high school, especially chemistry, but I found that engineering will let me apply scientific principles in practical ways."

Amanda, who intends to pursue her degree in Biomedical Engineering (BME), enjoyed biology, math and physics in school but also liked the idea of helping people. BME is among the fastest-growing engineering disciplines at UConn, growing by more than 1000% in the nine years since the undergraduate degree program was introduced.

Students receive approximately 50 hours of classroom instruction in chemistry, computer programming, calculus and physics. Evenings are reserved for scheduled group study sessions, during which teachers, tutors and other BRIDGE students discuss homework problems. Students also complete practice tests and engage in team exercises intended to improve their group problem solving skills -- an important part of the undergraduate experience and engineering practice.

When the students arrived on campus, they weren't certain how BRIDGE would help them. Matthew said his initial skepticism quickly melted in light of the program's immediate intensity. Cara agreed, saying "We had homework the very first day! In high school, the teacher would spend the first few days discussing the syllabus, goals for the semester, and maybe summarizing some core material from last year. With BRIDGE, we just jumped right in the first day."

The students said they had learned to plan their time carefully. They found that college life differs from high school in numerous ways. For example, Matthew said he found he could understand lectures only if he had done the assigned reading. "The professors just expected that we would stay up on our reading. The work load is different from high school. The amount of work for just one engineering problem is enormous," they said.

Looking back over the five-week experience, Amanda remarked that the BRIDGE program "got me excited for class. I had good study skills in high school, but the BRIDGE course load has made me focus more. For me, it reinforced the idea that we gain from our education what we put into it."

The BRIDGE program was begun in 1988 as a means to improve the diversity of the engineering student population. Kevin McLaughlin, Engineering Diversity Program director, manages the BRIDGE program with oversight from Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education Marty Wood and support provided by administrative personnel Kimberly Duby and Sharon McDermott.