Girl Scouts troop gains hands-on experience at ICAMS

A local Girl Scouts troop recently gained some hands-on manufacturing experience at the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems (ICAMS) at Auburn University. The visit earned the girls, who ranged from first to fifth grade, their STEM Career Exploration Badge.

“The badge is meant for girls to visit a variety of STEM onsite locations and learn what careers girls can do in STEM and what they could get excited about,” said troop leader Karen Dane. “The group had a great experience.”

Throughout the tour, the scouts learned about industrial, mechanical and electrical engineering. ICAMS research engineer Scott Neff helped plan the day which included a full tour of the manufacturing research center, a 3D scan of one of the troop volunteers which Neff machined into a small metal bust, a demonstration of automated manufacturing, and a hands-on activity related to manual metrology.

A highlight of the day for the girls was interacting with Neff’s German Shepherd, June “The Safety Dog.”

“It made the safety part of the visit much easier and understandable,” Dane said.

Neff said he immensely enjoyed working with these girls and demonstrating some of what modern-day manufacturing is like.

“Quite a few of them seemed very interested and asked some great questions about what makes the different manufacturing methods different,” he said. “I hope several of them look into a future in STEM and manufacturing in particular.”