SEAS heats up for winter 2012

The fall semester may be winding down, but the campus is heating up for Optional Winter Activities Week 2012. A wide selection of courses, activities, workshops, externships, and field trips near and far will welcome students back to SEAS in early January.

A group of undergraduate engineers will travel to the Gulf Coast to meet up with peers from the Universidade de São Paulo and see environmental engineering projects first-hand. Another group will travel to Palo Alto, California, to learn about entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.

Here on campus, staff will teach critical techniques and safety skills in the machine shop and the teaching labs; students from all concentrations will experience the design process, from challenge to prototype; and future teaching fellows will learn the best ways to support their courses.

For the full list of events, visit seas.harvard.edu/owa_2012.

Highlights of the season will include:

• Engineering, the Environment, and Extreme Events: Collaborative Field Course in Mississippi and Louisiana
• X-ray Imaging and MicroCT; Microscopy

An imaging workshop at the Center for Nanoscale Systems teaches students the basic theory and practice of X-ray imaging and CT at micrometer length scales.

• Sustainable Materials as Biomedical Materials
• i-Lab trip to Silicon Valley
• Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printing

Students taking a course in rapid prototyping learn how to draft their designs using CAD software; and use state-of-the art machines such as a laser cutter and a 3D printer.

• Architecture & Design Trek in Boston
• Fundamentals of Aerodynamics
• jDesign Workshop with IDEO
• Machine Shop Training

The SEAS Machine Shop recently moved into an improved facility in the Northwest building. Students wishing to use it must complete a 3-hour safety training session.

• IACS ComputeFest
• and much more!