Summer Educational Experience at Kent: Science, Engineering, and Innovation

In June 2014 Science, Technology and Globalization Project Director Calestous Juma, in conjunction with Kent School, hosted the Summer Educational Experience at Kent (SEEK) on Science, Engineering, and Innovation. It is one of several activities conducted as part of the pioneering Kent School Pre-Engineering Program.

Under the program, students learned how to leverage the power of engineering to solve global economic challenges as outlined in the report entitled Grand Challenges for Engineering by the US National Academy of Engineering. This program included sessions on: Music, Creativity and Engineering; Synthetic Biology and the Global Economy; Global Agriculture: The Sustainability Challenge; Global Health: The Antimicrobial Challenge; and Entrepreneurship.

The program is implemented in partnership with the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School and led by its director and Kent School trustee, Professor Calestous Juma. During 2014-2015 Professor Juma will serve as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The program is directed by Mr. Pape Seye and involves seven Kent School teachers and staff.

Students gained practical exposure through field visits to laboratories based in Cambridge, MA, including the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation. Firms such as Nokero and Little Sun provided additional assistance by donating photovoltaic lamps for demonstration.