Designing Gliders and Building Arms

Cal State East Bay will host MESA Day Saturday, March 23, bringing teams from local middle and high schools to the Hayward campus for a daylong science competition with challenges ranging from designing gliders to building prosthetic arms.

“Cal State East Bay is one of 18 MESA centers throughout California, serving 18 middle and high schools throughout the East Bay.”

The annual event culminates a year of STEM studies for students in Alameda and Contra Costa counties through MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement), a program founded in 1970 to give students traditionally underrepresented in STEM professions the interest and skills they need to pursue STEM studies and careers.

The competitions will be judged by faculty and undergraduate volunteers as well as STEM professionals from Chevron and other local companies.

Winners of the preliminary challenge at Cal State East Bay will go on to regional championships in April hosted on the Google campus in Sunnyvale, with UCLA hosting the statewide competition May 4 and national championships to be held at the University of Arizona at Tucson June 19-22.

With funding provided by the state Legislature, MESA is an award-winning statewide program providing comprehensive support to encourage underserved students to excel in the sciences and pursue STEM studies at the college level and beyond. Cal State East Bay is one of 18 MESA centers throughout California, serving 18 middle and high schools throughout the East Bay. MESA provides a rich array of learning activities, professional development for participating teachers, individual academic plans to help students navigate high school and college studies, career exploration and student achievement and leadership awards.

This year, MESA Day is being coordinated by the Institute for STEM Education at Cal State East Bay, which was established in 2011 to advance the university's commitment to STEM education for the diverse community we serve.

MESA Day is sponsored by the Chevron Richmond Refinery, the Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, Antioch Unified School District and the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement program.