Seismic Simulator, an earthquake simulator that shows young learners the power of movement, was awarded the $5,000 first-place prize in the Miner Creativity Challenge held in April. The event is organized by Kummer Student Programs in partnership with S&T’s Makerspace and the Kummer Center for STEM Education. The acronym STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

The challenge, launched last year, offers learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at S&T and at local middle schools. The goal of the challenge is for teams of S&T students to design and build a STEM learning experience – or toy – that will engage middle school students with STEM. Participants are challenged to take the fundamental concepts they’re learning about in class and redefine them in ways that are fun and energetic and that engage a specific audience.

First, S&T students present possible designs to middle school students. Based on that feedback, the S&T students work closely with faculty and staff mentors as they build prototypes. Those prototypes are then shared with the middle school students, who score each based on engagement, educational content and ease of use. Next, judges review and score the prototypes on factors including overall construction, safety, clarity of instructions and affordability. The combined scores of both sets of judges determines winners.

Henchmen Engineering, the team that created the simulator, was one of six teams to enter a toy designed and created for middle school students in the competition, which was open to teams of three to five S&T undergraduate or graduate students. The team won second place in last year’s competition.

Seismic Simulator demonstrates the power of resonant frequency, which is the principle that every object has a frequency at which it wants to vibrate. When the object is moved at its preferred frequency with enough energy, according to the principle, the movement reinforces itself with catastrophic results, such as the collapse of buildings, bridges and other structures.

For Hayden Krumpelman, a senior in mechanical engineering from Marceline, Missouri, and a member of Henchmen Engineering, the competition was an opportunity to indulge in one of his favorite activities: making toys.

“I make mechanical toys as a hobby,” he says. “Jumping in and doing hands-on projects is a great way to learn about the practical aspects of engineering and to gain experience making ideas come to life. I enjoy the challenge. Plus, it’s fun.”

Krumpelman says he particularly enjoyed watching the middle school students play with the simulator.

“They didn’t necessarily get it to begin with, but they started playing with the frequency adjustment knob and just by chance hit one of the right frequencies, and the expression of excitement quickly overtook them,” he says.

Other members of Henchmen Engineering are Elijah Day, a senior in electrical engineering from Overland, Missouri, and Jacob Stobie, a senior in civil engineering from High Ridge, Missouri.

Cheyenne Raker, who attended this year’s challenge as an advisor, says she’s been hooked on toy and game design since 2018. As a freelancer and contractor, Raker’s work is a blend of bringing her own concepts to fruition and helping other inventors build prototypes. As an advisor to the challenge, she delivered a keynote, facilitated brainstorming sessions for mentors and coached students on incorporating all aspects of STEM into their design.

“I never knew toy and game design was an avenue you can take until I learned one of my professors was working in that field,” says Raker, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio Northern University, followed by a master’s degree in industrial design from Georgia Tech.

She says designing toys and games is fun – she considers herself a child at heart – but that the rigor of the experience is beneficial, particularly to engineering students.

“No matter where they go, engineers are working on products that are going out into the world,” she says. “So even for those who are not interested in developing a toy, the creativity challenge is a great way to understand real-life product design.”

Many thanks to the event judges:

• Dr. Tim Faley, associate vice chancellor of innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization
• Dr. Mehdi Ferdowsi, associate dean of research for the College of Engineering and Computing and Sclumberger Foundation professor of electrical and computer engineering
• Marty Pickney, senior director of Project Lead The Way at S&T
• Cheyenne Raker, freelance toy and game design
• Dr. Yue-Wern Huang, associate dean of research for the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education and professor of biological sciences