Enroll early for Summer 2027 to secure your preferred campus and program.
Explore engineering disciplines and propose a team solution in this two-week Dartmouth academy for high school students.
Instructor:
Course Description
Choose a problem worth solving, then consider which kind of engineer would approach it. A question about flight, a medical device or a piece of software can call for different knowledge, while sharing a process for developing a solution.
In this course you will explore how aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical and other engineering disciplines address problems through lectures and hands-on activities. The engineering design process provides a common framework for connecting those fields. Active learning gives you opportunities to work with the ideas, compare approaches and consider how a problem changes when you examine it through another discipline.
Guest speakers and field trips introduce practicing engineers and their day-to-day work. Those encounters give you a chance to ask how classroom concepts connect with the decisions professionals make. For the capstone, work in a small group to identify a real problem within a shared theme and choose the engineering discipline that best fits your proposed solution. Applying the design process together helps you explain the connection between the problem, your approach and the field you have chosen.
This course is part of the Meriden Valley program from Dartmouth Summer Scholars, open to students 14 and up. No prior experience in the subject is required.
Instructor Bio
Dr. Levi Olevsky holds a PhD from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering, where his research focused on tissue engineering. He is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of GyroGel, a startup developing a patient-specific bone graft substitute for jawbone and facial reconstruction.
What You Will Do
• Compare major engineering disciplines and the problems they address
• Explore engineering concepts through lectures and hands-on activities
• Use the engineering design process as a framework for solving problems
• Meet practicing engineers through guest speakers and field trips
• Identify a real problem with a small capstone team
• Develop a proposed solution using the engineering discipline that best fits
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Describe major engineering disciplines and the problems each addresses
• Apply the engineering design process collaboratively to a real problem
• Connect course concepts with the work of practicing engineers
You’ll leave with your team’s capstone proposal and a clearer sense of which engineering fields and questions you want to explore through further study.
Why Engineering Skills Matter
Engineering begins with understanding a problem before choosing how to solve it. Different disciplines—from aerospace and biomedical engineering to civil, electrical, and software engineering—bring different tools and ways of thinking to the same challenge. Comparing those approaches helps students recognize that a strong solution depends on defining the need and selecting methods that fit.
The engineering design process turns ideas into choices students can explain and improve. Hands-on activities and a team capstone encourage them to test assumptions, consider alternatives, and work toward a shared proposal. Conversations with practicing engineers connect classroom questions to professional work, while teamwork develops communication and reasoning skills useful across engineering fields and beyond.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed grades 8-12.
If you enjoy making things, solving practical problems, or figuring out why a design works, this academy gives you several engineering fields to compare. You’ll explore the design process through hands-on activities, meet engineers, and work with a small team to develop a solution to a real-world problem. It’s a chance to discover which kinds of engineering challenges interest you most.
Your Summer at Dartmouth in Meriden Valley
This course is part of the Meriden Valley program from Dartmouth Summer Scholars, open to students 14 and up regardless of prior coursework. Classes and housing are on KUA's 1,300-acre campus in Meriden, New Hampshire, a short drive from Dartmouth, where students receive the same high-quality academic experience as students on Dartmouth’s campus. Students live in modern, air-conditioned residence halls with a 1:8 staff ratio, and each session includes time on Dartmouth’s campus. Completing this course may make students eligible for advanced courses in future summers of Dartmouth Summer Scholars.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive