Area students attend technology showcase, get chance to visit Southeast Missouri State University

About 200 students from around the region recently got a look at the variety of fields available at Southeast Missouri State University -- from commercial photograph and cybersecurity to telecommunications computer networking -- at the Advanced Technology Showcase.

Amanda Eller, coordinator of special programs and services for the College of Science, Technology and Agriculture, said the showcase is aimed at high school juniors and seniors in chemistry, physics, upper-level math, computers, industrial technology and career and technology center subjects.

Students participated in morning and afternoon sessions at the Otto and Della Seabaugh Polytechnic Building and were shown around by faculty and instructors.

"I think its very important for students to come and see what the department has to offer. It's a very diverse department with a broad spectrum of programs/majors," Eller said in an email. "Many students don't realize we offer so many of the programs. Students also don't always understand what a program entails, so it's a good way for these students to learn what we have to offer and what they can do with each of the programs."

Dr. Brad Deken, chairman of Polytechnic Studies, agreed, noting it's important that high school students start thinking seriously about their futures.

Chaffee Industrial Arts & Technology student Ryan Burton learns about commercial photography during the Advanced Technology Showcase on Friday. (Submitted by the The Chaffee Industrial Arts & Technology program)

"Obviously we hope to recruit students to our department. ... We try to show them not only possible careers in these fields and what it takes to get there, but also some of the equipment they could be using in these careers. Hopefully this gets these young men and women thinking about their next steps, whether or not it includes us," Deken said in an email.

Last week, Deken led a tour through the Advanced Manufacturing Technology area where students viewed industrial computers, a pick-and-place robot attached to a vision system so it can spot defects and a digital logic board, among other items.

The digital logic board has many of the connections a computer might, but can do tasks at high speed because they're built for specific applications.

In the Manufacturing Processes Lab, Dr. Shaojun Wang mainly teaches students machinery work and how to cut metal parts. Wang said there are manual machines and advanced CNC -- computer numerical control -- machines. He demonstrated a CAD-CAM configuration, which integrates drawing and coding. CAD stands for computer aided design and CAM is computer aided manufacturing.

Instructors Dan Lauder and Kevin McMeel, in facilities management and construction management and design, respectively, showed students a wind turbine and a house students built.

Facilities management is based on managing a building after it's constructed, Lauder said. He added new trained people are needed in the field, and only 22 percent are women, so that's a good opportunity, as well.

Construction management involves figuring out materials needed for construction, the time it's going to take, how much it will cost and how many people it will take to tackle a project.

Meridian High School science teacher LaWanda Green led a group of 12 seniors from her school in Mounds, Illinois, and said she attends every year.

"This is actually fun. They really like this," Green said.

Members of the Industrial Technology Club from Scott City was represented, as well, and it was eye-opening for students who didn't know Southeast offered these types of programs.

"It definitely puts more interest in SEMO," high school freshman Quinton Lacey said. "I didn't know they had that kind of equipment. I thought it was more classroom-style stuff. I didn't realize they had as much hands-on stuff that you can learn."

Eller said students from throughout the region attended the showcase, even one from the St. Louis area. The event has been held in various formats since 2004, she said.

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Amanda Eller, coordinator of special programs and services for the College of Science, Technology and Agriculture, said the Advanced Technology Showcase at Southeast Missouri State University has been held for quite some time.

The format was changed up this year with a morning and afternoon session offered. A small event committee met to update the format and changes were rolled out to faculty in early October.

Details were worked out from there with faculty working together to figure out how they wanted to showcase their programs.

In the past few years, it was a structured open house, but Eller said in an email, they decided they wanted more structure and more time for students to learn about all the programs offered.

The date is usually set in the spring before the faculty leave for the summer.

*"We decide on all of our event dates, so the faculty and staff can the event dates on their calendars. When the fall semester is back in session (usually around September) I start getting the database together for the invites and work on updating the materials we will mail out to invite the schools to our event,*" Eller said.

*"Since we had major changes to the format this year, it took more time planning and prepping the faculty, so we worked on that September and October and finalized presentations and printouts at the end of October/first of November so we*'d be ready for the students arrival on Friday, Nov. 7. We ended up filling up the event and will work with four other classes/schools that we didn*'t have room for that day. We*'ll invite them back another time.*"