Surry Community College Intro to Engineering EGR-150 students got a hands-on experience with programming languages and robotics in a course designed to provide students with an overview of the engineering profession.
EGR-150 is a class that is approved for college transfer to the North Carolina University System as an introductory engineering class or elective course requirement. EGR-150 will be offered in Fall 2021 at SCC. Math Instructor Kristopher Simino teaches the lab portion of the class.
“The idea behind this class is fun. It’s not meant to be intense, but to allow students to see the different sides of engineering,” Simino said. “We do group projects where the students program robots to go through a maze and accomplish certain goals. The lab also involves group discussions when students talk about the practical applications of the class, such as how self-driving cars use sensors like their robots do.”
Students learn a simplified version of the C++ programming language called Sketch to program their robots. Future EGR-150 students will build weather stations and compete in bridge building competitions. There are no prerequisites or corequisites for the class.
The class lecture is taught by Dr. Gopal Sapkota, SCC Physics Instructor. Class topics include goal setting and career assessment, ethics, public safety, the engineering method and design process, written and oral communication, interpersonal skills and team building, and computer applications. Upon completion, students should understand the engineering process, the engineering profession and utilize college resources to meet their educational goals.
Devin Hill of Mount Airy is pursuing an Associate in Science and an Associate in General Education at SCC. He plans to transfer in 2022 and earn a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He graduated from East Surry High School in 2019. He took EGR-150 in Fall 2020.
“I really enjoyed the more hands-on engineering natured things we did in lab. We learned the basics of programming using an Arduino. We then took that rudimentary programming knowledge and used our Arduinos to do a variety of things such as displaying arrays of lights, powering robots and programming the robots to guide themselves around a maze,” Hill said.
Registration for summer and fall classes at SCC will begin on April 12, for current students and April 19, for new students. If you need help with college application, class registration or financial aid, contact Student Services at (336) 386-3264 or studentservices@surry.edu.
