Monday, March 28, 2022
Research, Community
By News and Internal Communications
EDINBURG, TEXAS – The UTRGV I-DREAM4D Consortium is hosting its first National Manufacturing Exhibition in Edinburg on April 7 and 8.
The two-day event will be geared toward middle and high school students, teachers and college students from the Valley. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore engineering topics, including artificial intelligence, 3D printing, advanced manufacturing and autonomy with applications in aerospace and defense manufacturing.
The first day, geared towards middle and high schoolers, will consist of speakers from various manufacturing organizations – including the Army Research Lab, the U.S. Department of Defense STEM Program, Boeing, Black & Decker and Raytheon – at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex.
The expo then will begin tours of the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science facilities on the Edinburg Campus.
The second day will have a career fair in the morning for UTRGV students interested in a manufacturing career, and also will include tours of the facilities.
Dr. Jianzhi Li, UTRGV professor of manufacturing engineering and principal investigator on the I-DREAM4D project, said the purpose of this expo is to enhance awareness of STEM career opportunities.
“The goal is to inspire high school and middle school students as early as we can and attract more students into the STEM field,” Li said. “We want to showcase the different manufacturing operations, including robots and artificial intelligence (AI).”
For special accommodations or more information, contact Lesly Orozco Zarate at Lesly.Orozco01@utrgv.edu.ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.