When Cynthia Furse was a little girl, she wanted to save lives by becoming a doctor. Later, after meeting an engineer who helped develop an MRI machine, she quickly switched fields.
Furse said she realized that by developing a machine that can provide detailed images of internal parts of the body, she could save more lives through inventions than helping sick patients.
“I thought, “Whoa! Forty people or so a day for a doctor, or millions of people for an engineer?'” said Furse, an electrical engineering professor at the U. “I could have more impact on the world being an engineer.”
To inspire high school students throughout the state, just as she was inspired years ago, Furse helped organize “Meet an Inventor Day,” which was held Saturday, where engineering students and professors demonstrated their latest inventions.
About 100 students attended the event, which was hosted by Tau Beta Pi, a group of College of Engineering honor students. The U funded the event through a five-year, $2 million grant provided by the National Science Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to increase the number of engineering students in the United States.
“We want more engineers because they affect our quality of life and our economy, both locally and nationally,” Furse said. “We’re evaluating ways we can get more students interested in engineering. If they see what engineering includes, most will find something that interests them because it’s such a broad field with so much impact.”
Maddie Frommelt, a junior from Alta High School, said she had mixed feelings about a demonstration of a device invented at the U designed to restrict cell phone use while driving a car.
“I think it’s a really cool idea, but I don’t want it on my phone,” Frommelt said. “Not that I talk all the time when I’m driving, but what if I really needed to use my phone?”
At another presentation, Daryl Wasden, a senior in electrical engineering, described how researching electrical charges in human muscles can lead to important discoveries in the medical field. By hooking students up to a pair of electrodes, he showed how electrical voltage generated by muscle movement can be recorded on a computer. Wasden said engineers hope this data can be used to create prosthetic limbs that work much like the original.
Christopher Benson, an engineering graduate student and president of Tau Beta Pi, said the event will become an annual gathering where high school students can become familiar with and learn about the U’s College of Engineering.
“A lot of kids are really encouraged by inventions but don’t know how to go about doing it, and they think an inventor is some crazy-haired guy in a garage that has no education,” Benson said. “Most of the technical innovation in real life, though, happens in engineering. So we wanted to show students how math and science can be applied concretely to many different areas within engineering.”
Tyler CobbTo inspire high school students throughout the state, just as she was inspired years ago, Furse helped organize ?Meet an Inventor Day,? which was held Saturday, where engineering students and professors demonstrated their latest inventions.