Outreach

Circuit board with wiring

Events

Dr. Mantooth looking over a student welding.

NCREPT is closely involved with secondary education in the Northwest Arkansas area. We offer tours and classes for public, private, and online schools!

NCREPT hosts a number of outreach and education opportunities every year. Please read more about these programs below. If you are interested in more information about any of these programs, please contact Anna Corbitt or Wesley Schwartz.

Summer REU Student Program

Since 2010, NCREPT has hosted at least two Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) students for a 10-week summer research program. Students are involved in a hands-on project that gives them the opportunity to design, build, and present a demonstration project. These projects are then used by NCREPT staff to teach elementary, junior high and high school students about engineering and physics.

Teacher pointing at screen with student looking over their shoulder.
Picture of student explaining his poster to someone.

Facility Tours

NCREPT hosts a variety of tours and working visits each year. In 2017, NCREPT was visited by more than 1300 students (ranging from elementary through undergraduate level); private companies; local, state and federal government officials; and other university collaborators. Student visitors that tour NCREPT enjoy a walk-through of our high-powered testing lab and learn about engineering, opportunities for learning at and collaboration with the University of Arkansas, and what our past students are doing today! We also have available a number of learning tools to teach students about a variety of physics and engineering principles. Working visits can take advantage of our on-site conference room to discuss testing, collaboration and research projects with our faculty and staff.

Middle School students in front of University of Arkansas building
Middle School students in a group inside NCREPT for a tour
Anna Corbitt explaining NCREPT equipment to a student.
Elementary/Middle school students with teachers in front of NCREPT for a tour.
Highschool students in a group after a tour

VICTERV WOW Mobile Lab

NCREPT is home to the Wonders of Wattage (WOW) Mobile Lab, which was funded by the VICTER Center (http://victercenter.com). This mobile outreach vehicle is taken by NCREPT staff to various schools and STEM events around the state to provide a unique learning experience to our state’s students. Containing a variety of energy conversion demonstrations built by REU students, the VICTER Mobile Lab is used to introduce a variety of STEM principles to students from elementary through high school level. Some of our demonstration experiments include a solar cart, a Jacob’s Ladder, a touch-free can crusher and two electromagnetic force demonstrators

Image of Victor WOW Mobile Lab