GLAM GAMES Camp Helps High Schoolers Explore Materials Engineering Career Options

September 28, 2017


GLAM campers are participating in a hands-on activity that involves ooy-gooey fluids.

From wacky wires (memory metal) that reshape themselves when immersed in boiling water, to playing with ooy-gooey non-Newtonian fluids, to molding polymers, the 19 high school girls who participated in GLAM (Girls Learn About Materials) GAMES camp from Sunday, June 18th through Saturday, June 24th this past summer learned about a variety of materials. After hearing a mini-lecture about a given material, the girls then got to do fun, hands-on activities about the subject. Many of the participants, who were exploring materials science in order to make college/career decisions, not only learned some things about materials and what materials engineers do, they were exposed to women in materials engineering who served as role models.

The GLAM GAMES (Girls’ Adventures in Math, Engineering, and Science) camp, run by Co-Coordinators Jessica Krogstad, a Material Science and Engineering (MatSE) Assistant Professor, and Kaitlin Tyler, a MatSE Ph.D. student, was in its seventh year of operation. Tyler has been serving as the GLAM coordinator for five of those years; Krogstad was in her second year as coordinator, shares why she takes time out of her busy schedule to do GLAM.


“I love it! she admits. “It's so much fun, and the activities we do are designed to be fun, so it's great to see the girls interacting and getting excited about science.”

One reason she loves doing the camp so much is because of the impact a similar camp had on her career choices.

“I did something like this in high school, and that's the reason why I got interested in the field. It was really captivating, and it was exciting to see all of these different disciplines coming together. So we really work hard to try and demonstrate how diverse material science is to get girls really engaged with it.”

She also appreciates the impact GLAM is having on recruiting here at Illinois, and says that a number of students have enrolled in MatSE as a result of attending. She shares an anecdote about a recent encounter with one of them. Incoming freshmen always take MatSE 182, a survey course; during one session, MatSE faculty come in and introduce themselves. “I'm so excited because this year,” she explains, “I had a girl come up to me and say, ‘I had you in GLAM, and I'm so glad to be here!’ So even if it's just a couple, we know we have numbers for the number who matriculate in engineering somewhere.”


Krogstad has two goals regarding the impact GLAM has on girls: “One, I want to make sure that they know what materials science is and that it's a viable career path. It's not as popular as mechanical engineering, so as they're shopping around, many of these girls are already steered in the direction of engineering or sciences, which is fantastic.”

Her second goal is to keep them in the pipeline all the way—not just to college, but even when the engineering program gets challenging: “To keep them interested and to get them excited so that they have the confidence to push through their senior year, to stick with it, and especially their freshmen year when they do get into the engineering curriculum, and they know it is so hard, but they had fun at this.”

Krogstad’s observation that many of the high school girls are “shopping around,” appears to be true for several of the campers, who reported that they were seriously thinking about engineering, but trying to settle on which discipline.


For instance, high school sophomore Nicole Southey, indicates that she’s considering a career in engineering, but isn’t sure exactly which discipline yet, and that’s one reason she came to GLAM. “I've done GAMES camp in the past, and I wasn't really sure what material sciences was, so I was able to see what it was like, and it was fun.”

Southey indicates that she learned about what a material scientist does. “I got to learn what they do and everything…We got to go into the lab, see all of the things they do and all the materials they have, which was really cool.” She also learned what an engineer’s workload might be, and also about the process of being an undergrad at Illinois.

Is she headed to Material Science and Engineering? “This seems interesting but I'm also looking at bio-engineering. But I'm definitely thinking about an engineering field.”

Another camper, rising high school senior Chloe Trom, reports that she’s come to Illinois for multiple engineering GAMES and WYSE camps, and says, “I'm just exploring the different tracks and fields of engineering to see which one I have a passion for and which one I would like to do in college.”

For instance, she’s explored aerospace, mechanical, and electrical: “And I really liked those. And this is really cool to see what a material engineer would do. We got to tour labs and see the types of experiments and material they deal with. I'm definitely interested in a lot of the fields I'm seeing.”


What did she learn this summer? “It was mainly just getting a view of this they do. I came in blind as to what material engineers do, but we got to see different aspects of materials and learn different pieces of what they have to master and apply. It was just like all areas of what they do.”

Story and photos by Elizabeth Innes, Communications Specialist, I-STEM Education Initiative.
More: 8-12 Outreach, GAMES, GLAM, MatSE, Summer Camp, Women in STEM, 2017

For additional I-STEM articles about other G.A.M.E.S. camps, see:








SOLIDarity EXperiences (SOLIDEX) through the Eyes of Children

What do children aged 11-13 in two countries think about solidarity?
Full Story

Students launch ASL STEM Vocabulary App Company

Students launch ASL STEM Vocabulary App Company
Full Story

Innovation, Inspiration on display at the Undergraduate Research Symposium

Undergraduate Research Week took place April 23-29, 2023, and culminated Thursday, April 27, 2023
Full Story

What would you like to see – 3D printers? Magnets? Solar-powered racing cars? Robobrawl?

March 28, 2023
EOH occurs Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Full Story

Tour of Illinois’ Materials Research Lab through I-MRSEC sparks Franklin students’ interest in Materials Science

March 1, 2023
Students from the Champaign middle school had a tour of the Material Research Laboratory (MRL) in early February.
Full Story

Nobel Project’s End-of-Year Zoom Bash Recaps Learning

February 1, 2022
The STEM Illinois Nobel Project held a special, end-of-the-year Zoom event celebrating its participating students’ achievements.
Full Story

It’s not magic, it’s physics

January 26, 2022
In Franklin STEAM Academy, Musical Magnetism program makes STEM fun, approachable.
Full Story

Program prepares STEM educators to teach all students

November 30, 2021
This summer, a group of educators gathered to learn about engaging STEM activities they can do with their students.
Full Story

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program

November 11, 2021
Undergrads get a taste of research through I-MRSEC’s REU program.
Full Story

Goldstein’s Renaissance Engineering Summer Camp

November 1, 2021
Goldstein’s Renaissance Engineering Summer Camp Incorporates Art, Design, Mechatronics, and Mentoring
Full Story

TechTogether Chicago to Redefine the Hacker Stereotype

July 10, 2021
New workshops that can help inspire students to pursue careers in technology..
Full Story

Aerospace Engineering Launches Virtual Summer Camps to Pique Students’ Interest in Aero.

July 2, 2021
Design an aircraft then watch it soar after launching it with a huge rubber band. Build a Mars lander to safely transport a real egg, then test the contraption by dropping it from a second story window.
Full Story

Undergrads Experience Materials Science Research Courtesy of the I-MRSEC REU

June 16, 2021
Ten undergraduate students are spending the summer of 2021 discovering what research is like.
Full Story

MatSE Afterschool Academy

MatSE Afterschool Academy

June 14, 2021
MatSE Afterschool Academy to Introduce Students to Materials Science and Beyond.
Full Story

Taylor Tucker Embraces Multidisciplinary Interest

Taylor Tucker Embraces Multidisciplinary Interest

June 14, 2021
Taylor Tucker Embraces Multidisciplinary Interest While Researching Task Collaboration.
Full Story

Exposes Franklin Middle Schoolers to Science, CS

What Studying Engineering at Illinois is Like?

May 25, 2021
NSBE’s Michaela Horn Exposes Franklin Middle Schoolers to Science, CS, and What Studying Engineering at Illinois is Like.
Full Story

Jenny Saves a Convertible.

Children’s-Book-Writing Duo/

May 19, 2021
Convertibles and Thunderstorms—Children’s-Book-Writing Duo on Their Way Thanks to Illinois Training and Encouragement from Mentors.
Full Story

Improve Learning in Engineering

Improve Learning in Engineering

May 17, 2021
Liebenberg Espouses Mini-Projects to Engage Students Emotionally, Improve Learning in Engineering.
Full Story

Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

BIOE435 Capstone Projects

May 12, 2021
BIOE435 Capstone Projects - BIOE Seniors Use Knowledge/Skills to Problem Solve.
Full Story

Elani and Gonzalo shine a UV light on a rose that has absorbed a solution that has made it fluorescent.

Illinois Scientists Shine a (UV) Light on Fluorescence

May 7, 2021
What is fluorescence? What causes it?
Full Story

Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

HackIllinois 2021 “Rekindled Connections” With The Tech Community

May 5, 2021
Annual student hackathon HackIllinois with the aim of developing projects on current problems facing society.
Full Story

A Shane Mayer-Gawlik image of the Bridger Aurora, part of his Night Skies photography collection exhibited at the Art-Science Festival.

The Art-Science Festival

April 26, 2021
Illinois Art-Science Festival: Illuminating the Universe...from the Quantum World to the Cosmos.
Full Story

Joshua Whitely makes an adjustment to the 3D Bioprinter during the demo.

Illinois Engineering Seniors Prepared to Change the World

April 22, 2021
Ready. Set. Go! Illinois Engineering Seniors Prepared to Change the World.
Full Story

HML 2021 Virtual Health

HML 2021 Virtual Health

April 19, 2021
Make-a-Thon Gives Citizen Scientists a Shot at Making Their Health-Related Innovations a Reality.
Full Story

I-MRSEC’s Music Video

I-MRSEC’s Music Video

April 7, 2021
I-MRSEC’s Music Video for EOH ’21 Plugs Graphene, 2D Materials
Full Story

Health Make-a-Thon Orientation

HML 2021 Health Orientation

March 30, 2021
HML 2021 Health Make-a-Thon Orientation Prepares Finalists for Competition.
Full Story

Andrea Perry shows Franklin students how to take apart the magnetic drawing board they received in their kit

Musical Magnetism

March 25, 2021
Musical Magnetism: Encouraging Franklin Middle Schoolers to Express Science Via the Arts.
Full Story

Carmen Paquette street performing.

Love of Science

March 9, 2021
Paquette Conveys Her Love of Science, Dance to Franklin STEAM Students Via Musical Magnetism.
Full Stroy

An Engineering Exploration participant exhibits the tower they built as part of the engineering challenge related to Civil Engineering

Engineering Exploration

March 2, 2021
SWE’s Engineering Exploration Outreach Lives Up to Its Name.

ChiS&E’s Family STEM Day

ChiS&E’s Family STEM Day

February 23, 2021
Helps Chicago Youngsters Progress Along the STEM Pipeline Toward Engineering.

Kathny Walsh

Kathy Walsh

February 17, 2021
On Her First Foray into STEAM, Kathy Walsh Acquaints Franklin Students with Microscopy, Haiku.

ChiS&E student

ChiS&E CPS Students

January 19, 2021
Illinois Undergrads Encourage ChiS&E CPS Students Toward Possible Careers in Engineering.

I-MRSEC’s Music Video

CISTEME365 Provides Year-Round PD/Community

January 4, 2021
to Illinois Teachers in Support of Informal STEM Education Efforts to Underserved Students.