Media Advisory: UB Program for High School Students Is Part Engineering Workshop, Part Santa's Workshop

They may look like they're just playing with TRIO's "easy-click bricks and sticks" but at the University at Buffalo 13 young women from area high schools will actually be brainstorming what could be the toy industry's next blockbuster!

It's all part of the 2009 UB/NYSCEDII Cyber Engineering Workshop for Young Women, to be held today (Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009) in Room 8 on the ground floor of Norton Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. (Best time for media: 3-4 p.m.) Great visuals! Great summer feature story!

Now in its ninth year, the brainstorming session mimics the way that new toys are developed at Fisher-Price, and will be led by James Meade, a Fisher-Price product engineer.

Students will use the Fisher-Price construction/building product "TRIO" to develop a toy that can transport a small object a short distance. The session challenges students to creatively design their approaches, whether they develop a motorized car, a catapult or another tiny mode of transportation. At the end of the session, the Fisher-Price engineers will judge the students' creations for speed, accuracy and creativity.

UB's New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII, pronounced "Nicety") is the host of the 2009 UB/NYSCEDII Cyber Engineering Workshop for Young Women. Sponsored by Fisher-Price, General Mills, Lockheed Martin and Praxair, the UB workshop is designed to attract young women to the field of engineering.

Press arrangements: Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of News Services at 645-4605 and onsite at 771-9255, or Ken English, Ph.D., NYSCEDII deputy director and workshop coordinator, at 645-2685 and onsite at 510-5597.