January 24, 2020 – “How do drones and airplanes fly? Why do boats float? How do hybrid cars work? Who programs robots and my favorite computer games?”

If you’re the parent of a curious kid, you may have heard questions like this before. Luckily, the faculty, students and community partners at the USC College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) are prepared to answer these questions and even more! 

To kick off Engineers Week (E-Week), the CEC is opening its doors for a one-day open house event geared toward kindergarten through 12th grade students on Feb. 15. With hands-on exhibits, educational activities and opportunities to talk to real-life engineers, students can have all their engineering and computer science questions answered as they dive deeper into the field.

The open house, which is sponsored by Dominion Energy and set for February 15, 2020, will be held at the Swearingen Engineering Center (315 Main St., Columbia SC) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Additional exhibits will be displayed outside and in the 300 Main Street building. 

Bring the whole family for this free event! There will be activities for everyone, including:

• fuel cell demonstrations;
• electric and hybrid vehicles;
• a floating concrete canoe;
• a cornstarch pool;
• programmable robots;
• computer games;
• bottle rockets;
• Segway rides; and
• even more hands-on projects for kids.

Please allow at least two hours to see all the exhibits and consider bringing a change of clothes for your child if they decide to run across the cornstarch pool.

Registration is not required, but you can find more information and RSVP on the college’s website. Questions about the event can be directed to Krystal DuBose at kddubose@cec.sc.edu.