Educate the Whole Student by Integrating STEM, Liberal Arts, and Social Responsibility
Synergies in Teaching and Learning
Renaissance Engineers Projects
Velventos is a beautiful town with population 3,360 located at the feet of the Pierian Mountains in Greece. Gymnasio Velventou (Middle School of Velventos, 7th - 9th grades) created a program, "The Personality of the Month", to enrich students with experiences beyond the teaching and learning of course content. Every month the program invites a guest to get to know the students and share with students experiences from their professional life.
For the program inauguration on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 the Renaissance Engineers spent a day at Gymnasio Velventou to implement program "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up". The purpose of the activity was to expose students to the engineering profession. Athan, an engineer and Founder of Synergies Project and Renaissance Engineers, along with members Iovi and Maria, veterinary medicine students at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Nikolas, 10th grade student at Pinewood American International School of Thessaloniki, Greece designed and implemented two 90-minute sessions of experiential learning activities for 8th and 9th grade students, respectively. Activities included icebreaker, getting to know each Renaissance Engineer member, team building, an interactive presentation by Athan about engineering with focus on civil engineering, an engineering design project competition, student reflections on the project and on working in teams, closure discussion, and evaluation of the activity. On his presentation, Athan focused on the daily life of the engineer, reminiscing about the experiences, concerns, choices, successes, as well as failures he faced during his student, and professional lives. In addition to career guidance, the activity focused on the diversity of choices we have after graduating from high school, as well as the rewards that come as a result of our experiences, reflections, successes, and failures. Finally, the activity highlighted the engineering design process engineers follow to design solutions, and culminated with students working on an engineering design project.
NEW PROJECT
Project Owner: Athan Vouzianas,
Synergies Project Founder, Partner, and Team Leader; Renaissance Engineers Founder and Adviser
Contact: avouzianas@synergiesproject.com
STEM on Thursdays is an outreach activity intended for kids at local communities. Every Thursday during the academic semester the Education Outreach Pilar of Renaissance Engineers organize and deliver STEM enrichment activities for kids at libraries around Athens, OH. The 60 - 90 minute interactions promote STEM to kids, enable "buddying" between kids and college students, and provide an opportunity for college students to apply what they learn in class in a community engagement type of activity.
In the Spotlight
Educational Outreach 2017 (video)
Project Owner: Jacqueline Krim,
Renaissance Engineers Vice President and Director of Education Outreach
Contact: jacquelinekrim@gmail.com
Annual Engineering and Technology Days are daylong STEM events intended for K - 8 students. The events occur on a Saturday in February and are organized by the Renaissance Engineers in synergy with the Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery. Participants include WOUB Learning Lab; Ohio University's Physics and Astronomy; Ohio University's Russ College of Engineering and Technology; and student organizations such as Tau Beta Pi, ASCE, AAEES, Chi Epsilon, Green Roof Project, and PAVE. Projects include airplane cockpit, autonomous vehicles, electricity, green roofs, hovercrafts, magnetic vehicles, programming, towers + bridges, rockets, 3D-printing, and other.
Moving forward, the vision is to organize the events around a theme that connects STEM with humanities, arts, and social responsibility. For ideas and to request participation email Athan at avouzianas@synergiesproject.com.
In the Spotlight
Future pilots and engineers learn about flying. Photo: Ashley Stottlemyer
Electricity is cool too. Photo: Ashley Stottlemyer
Photo: Ashley Stottlemyer
Future pilots and engineers learn about flying. Photo: Ashley Stottlemyer
Project Owner: Jacqueline Krim,
Renaissance Engineers Vice President and Director of Education Outreach;
Contact: jacquelinekrim@gmail.com
The Renaissance Engineers are building a flight simulator using an airplane cockpit shell. The idea is to create a modular airplane cockpit flight simulator to take to schools and libraries and deliver STEM activities to the students. Students will learn the science, engineering, and mathematics of flying an airplane and the technologies for Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance. The cockpit and other equipment was a kind donation from Ohio University's Avionics Engineering Center.
Preparing the Airplane Cockpit (video)
Project Owner: Athan Vouzianas,
Synergies Project Founder, Partner, and Team Leader; Renaissance Engineers Founder and Adviser
Contact: avouzianas@synergiesproject.com
Testing cockpit installation.
Dismantling the cockpit to move it from airport to event location.
Dismantling the cockpit to move it from airport to event location.
Testing cockpit installation.
In the Spotlight
Good Works is a community organization in southeast Ohio with vision "to create and sustain a community of hope with and for people who are struggling with poverty and homelessness in rural Appalachia." Since the inception of Renaissance Engineers, our colleagues and friends at Good Works have been our partners and mentors by giving us projects and co-designing with us service-learning activities. The Renaissance Engineers built a 50 ft. pedestrian bridge on a trail path at Good Works' property. The single-span bridge replaced an older double-span bridge which had been damaged from water, soil erosion, and debris. Project expenses were covered by Good Works and pocket money from the Renaissance Engineers project team.
Good Works Bridge Opening (edited video, 9 min)
Good Works Bridge Opening (unedited video, 18 min)
Project Owner:
Timothy Pike,
Renaissance Engineers Member and Good Works Bridge Project Manager
Contact: tbp@cp-com.com
Women for Recovery is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that supports women in their early recovery. Serenity Grove is the organization's Level 2 transitional recovery house that supports women in their early recovery in Athens County, Ohio. The Renaissance Engineers ensured the safety of Serenity Grove's residents and visitors by building a hand rail for the stairs that lead from the parking to the house.
Project Owner:
Timothy Pike,
Renaissance Engineers Member and Serenity Grove Hand-Rail Project Manager
Contact: tbp@cp-com.com
The Renaissance Engineers are building a hovercraft. The idea started by using a hair dryer to create lift to a piece of cardboard enclosed in a Ziploc bag. In the 1st prototype we utilized two hair dryers, one for "lift" and another for "push". To allow "autonomy" in movement we connected the power cable to a hook in the ceiling which allowed the hovercraft to hover in a circle. For the 2nd prototype we used blades from old drones, 3D printed some components, and programmed a Raspberry Pi computer connected to a Xbox controller to control the motion.
Our future hovercraft.
Our future hovercraft.
1st prototype (video)
2nd prototype (video)
Hovercraft (video)
Project Owner: Andrew Videmsek,
Renaissance Engineers Member and Hovercraft Project Manager
Contact: a.videmsek@gmail.com