Submitted by Camille Santana, M.S., MESA Counselor, and Mylla Truong, MESA Student Leader
This article originally appeared in the College of Alameda Splash Newsletter, Vol. 40 May 4, 2017.
CoA’s MESA Program Wins Gold Medal in Walk on Water Engineering Competition
College of Alameda’s MESA Program, with support from Laney’s Fablab, earned the top prize for Innovative Engineering and Design at the East Bay MESA Alliance’s annual Engineering Competition, Walk on Water, held on Saturday, April 15, 2017, at Chabot College, in Hayward.
The engineering competition is intended as an interactive, engaging, friendly competition between high school juniors and senior, and community college students.
MESA students from Chabot College, Los Medanos College, Diablo Valley College, and College of Alameda brought their best designs to the pool, but only one team emerged on top; and that was CoA’s MESA team—nicknamed “The Alameda Bosses.”
The key to their success: collaboration.
Earlier this April, Team Leader Mylla Truong attended an inspiring informational tour of Laney College’s FabLab. The visit sparked an idea with Truong, who saw that Laney’s Fablab had ample resources, including the tools, materials, and technical knowledge that her team needed to literally walk on water.
CoA’s MESA team consisted of an interdisciplinary group of students each of whom brought a unique knowledge-set from their individual fields of study, including Mylla Truong (bioengineering major), Miguel Guerrero-Gonzalez (electrical engineering major), Francis Bautista (nursing major), Warren Kocal (biology major), and Christian Rodriguez (mechanical engineering major).
The MESA team collaborated closely with several professors across the Peralta district, who provided key insights and support, including Laney College Physics Professor Allen Nicol, and CoA’s Physics Professor Andrew Park, Chemistry Professor Jacob Schlegel, and Math Chair Vanson Nguyen.
COA’s MESA Program expresses the utmost appreciation and gratitude to everyone at Laney College’s FabLab for this unique and winning collaboration.
