Abstract :
For the past four years, Albuquerque public high schools and Sandia Laboratories have cooperated in a summer engineering program to attract young people into engineering and science careers. In a joint venture, both organizations have selected students, faculty, and curricula. Sandia Laboratories furnishes instruction and classroom materials, while the Albuquerque Public School System provides students, classrooms, and a high-school supervisor. Although the impact on student participants is difficult to measure, student surveys and faculty comments indicate that the course has been received with enthusiasm. Sandia Laboratories instructors, in particular, have been so positive in their reaction to the students and the public high-school faculty that the summer program is now a permanent part of Sandia´s education effort. The structure of this program may be of interest to other engineering and scientific organizations desiring to start a similar cooperative effort with secondary school systems in their communities.
