Students RAMP up chances for success
Summer program helps aspiring engineers transition to college
New Umass Lowell students interested in studying engineering got a head start over the summer through a program specifically designed for them.
Umass Lowell’s RAMP — Research, Academics and Mentoring Pathways — program offers incoming first-year and transfer students a chance to start their coursework early, collaborate on research projects and get a sense of what the engineering field — and college life — are like.
Held virtually this year for six weeks in July and August, the program helped 25 students to learn about data analytics and the “Internet of Things,” then work in teams to build Wi-fi connected devices. Assisting them were professionals from the region’s leading technology and aerospace companies and Umass Lowell student mentors.
Participants in the program each received Texas Instruments Launchpad micro-controller boards, then learned how to write code and add modules for Wi-fi signals, temperature sensors, microphones and more.
In addition to the hands-on experience, participants completed an online introductory course in Engineering and another course in Calculus.
Umass Lowell’s Centers for Learning, Advising and Student Success also provided students with tutoring sessions and weekly workshops on such topics as transitioning to campus life and learning in a virtual environment.
Less than a month into the fall semester, participants say the initiative has already made a difference.
Freshman Amanda Stanley of Dracut, a first-generation college student, had planned to major in Mechanical Engineering, but after working with her Launchpad this summer, she decided to double-major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science instead.
“At the RAMP program, I discovered my love for electronics,” she said. “I learned a ton about boards and coding. It was pretty awesome.”
For Stanley’s team project, she helped develop a device that alerts users if they leave their door unlocked. Other projects completed by RAMP students included a smartphone notification system that reminds users to bring their face covering when leaving home, and a platform that helps students manage their study time.
Imane Hankour of Lowell participated in the RAMP program as an incoming freshman last year and stayed involved this summer as a student
Professor Kavitha Chandra
mentor, helping a handful of participants build circuits and complete their final projects, connecting with them via Zoom sessions.
“It’s a really great opportunity for a lot of students,” Hankour said of RAMP, which inspired her to major in Electrical Engineering. “Last year, it helped me get to know people before college and, academically, it put me ahead by a semester.”
RAMP also opened the door for Hankour to conduct research in acoustics under the direction of Umass Lowell’s Kavitha Chandra, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and associate dean of undergraduate affairs in the Francis College of Engineering.
Chandra launched RAMP three years ago to bolster the enrollment, retention and accomplishments of students who are under-represented in engineering fields. Chandra was the first woman to earn a Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from Umass Lowell and the first graduate to receive the Young Alumni Award. Having benefited from a supportive community of peers and mentors during her graduate-school years, she said she designed RAMP to afford the same type of opportunities for new generations of Engineering students.
For its first two years, the program enrolled only women. This summer, RAMP included a half-dozen men, expanding the program to under-represented students in engineering of both genders and to those who expressed interest in being part of the college’s effort to add to the diversity of the student population, Chandra said.
The challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic also provided participants with chances to innovate, according to Chandra.
“It turned out to be a really nice opportunity to learn how to work with each other when we’re not next to each other,” she said. “Everyone made an effort to figure out how to engage and participate. Overall, it was really successful.”