Engineering Tomorrow labs

Building the next generation of engineers by igniting curiosity in your classroom.

Give your students a hands-on introduction to engineering.

Our labs simulate real-world projects designed by expert engineers so students gain unique insight and understanding into the world of engineering—all at no cost to your school.

Explore lab opportunities that align with your teaching goals.

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How our labs work

Join us for Lab Day events!
We also host live, virtual field trips called Lab Days where students can come together to be inspired and investigate topics in engineering. See full Lab Day schedule→

Why Engineering Tomorrow
Labs are always conducted with no cost to schools, teachers, or students.
Hands-on activities get students excited and keep them engaged.
Labs are designed and delivered by professional engineers.

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Aerodynamics

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Airplane Design & Optimization

In this lab, students are introduced to the forces that an airplane experiences in flight. They will try to maximize the lift of their paper airplane designs and optimize lift to drag ratios to complete the distance or flight time challenges. Students should use the skills learned in this lab to design an accurate and precise paper airplane model.

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Algorithms & Machine Learning

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Applied Machine Learning with Catapults

Students are introduced to the concept of machine learning and the iterative engineering design process through the design, construction, and testing of a catapult. They will then experiment with the catapult in order to develop a mathematical model that can be used to make predictions of how the system will perform.

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Artificial Intelligence

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Using AI for Good

In this lab, students will explore the rapidly evolving technology and use of Artificial Intelligence in tools we encounter every day.

They’ll learn about different types of machine learning and AI models, how they can be used to solve problems, and that these tools are imperfect and need to be used under human supervision. 

Finally, students will familiarize themselves with some AI capabilities including using prompting to create art, make learning fun, code a game, and train a custom chatbot, all with the goal of spurring their imagination for how AI can be applied to solve big problems.

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Astrodynamics

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Exploring Space & Developing Launch Vehicles

In this lab, students are introduced to spacecraft, launch vehicles, and orbits. They will use simulations to test and explore physics and vehicle design. They will also analyze the design of rockets through testing and iterating a balloon rocket.

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Andre Douglas

Active Astronaut

December 4, 2025

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Biomechanical Systems

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Assistive Technology with Eye Tracking

Students are introduced to the history, development, and design features of Eye Tracking. The lab will specifically focus on the application of eye tracking in assistive technology that helps people with physical limitations. Students will make a mechanical model of an eye to understand how the computer sees the eye when performing eye tracking. Students will also make sketches of the eye/eye tracker’s geometry and derive trigonometric equations used to measure the eye’s pointing direction. Finally, students will work through a series of mazes using eye gaze to apply the ideas behind Life Drive into the classroom.

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Biomedical Engineering

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Using Light to Cure Disease

This lab will allow students to play the role of a biomedical engineer. They will learn about sunlight, and its characteristics, as well as some characteristics of the human body. Using this knowledge they will critically think in order to discover a treatment for Grover’s disease.

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Dr. Erica Hartmann

Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

October 23, 2025

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Bridges

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Building Structures That Last

This task has students discover and learn about the scientific and real-world aspects of bridges. Students will explore and design their own bridges.

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Eniola Mafe-Abaga

Global Advocacy and Partnerships Director

September 25, 2025

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Clean Water

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Filtration Systems & Water Conservation

Students will learn about the water treatment process. By applying the fundamentals of wastewater treatment in order to design a small-scale filtration system, students will assess how effectively their designs produce “cleaner” water.

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Cybersecurity

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Protecting Data with Encryption

In this lab, students are introduced to cybersecurity. They will learn about topics including phishing attacks, malware, hacking, artificial intelligence, and more. The activity will involve practice with different encryption techniques and ways to hide information from hackers.

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Electric Vehicles

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Building & Racing Your Own EV

In this lab, students are introduced to the history, development, and design features of electric vehicles. Students will learn how to build their own electric vehicle and gain an understanding of this burgeoning technology.

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Genetics

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Diagnosing Disease with Bioinformatics

In an era of DNA sequencing and new molecular biology techniques, scientists have become inundated with biological data. The interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics combines biology, computer science, mathematics, and statistics to overcome this challenge by creating methods of analyzing the wealth of biological data publicly available in databases, such as UniProt and NCBI.

In this lab, students will receive a hands-on introduction to this cutting-edge field, learning the importance of using novel technologies to diagnose and treat diseases with a genetic basis. Using a brief list of symptoms and their newfound knowledge regarding bioinformatics, students will diagnose two patients, Patient X and Patient Y, while compiling information about the proteins involved in their respective diseases.

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Green Hydrogen

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Exploring Hydrogen Power & Electrolysis

In this lab, students are introduced to some of the major impacts of climate change and presented with a way to lessen its effects. They will learn how engineers can help to decarbonize the world economy and what role green hydrogen can play. Students will apply chemistry techniques to build an electrolysis cell in order to produce their own green hydrogen.

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Medical Devices

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3D Printing for Prosthetics

Students will learn about 3D printing in medicine through the exploration of prosthetic arms and hands. Once the students are introduced to the company E-NABLE and to how their prosthetics work, they will be learning about CAD, drawing, and dimensioning. Collectively using what they’ve learned, they will be tasked with designing their own prosthetic finger.

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Optimizing Networks

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The Traveling Salesman Problem

In this three-part breakout, students are introduced to the concept of networks and their real-world applications. In the first two parts, students will use online software and a linked Google spreadsheet to solve the classic Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). In the third part, they will have two options: 1) For novice programmers, students will use mBlock, a block coding software, to program a virtual drone to travel the route they solved for in the previous part. 2) If students have more familiarity with coding, students will explore a Python program in Google Colab to model and solve the traveling salesman problem.

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Packaging Engineering

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Learning the Physics of Impact

In this lab, students will explore the world of packaging engineering by learning how everyday items are protected on their journey from production to the consumer. They’ll uncover the science behind cushioning and impact, seeing how different materials and structures absorb force. 

Along the way, they’ll connect concepts from physics, material science, sustainability, and even marketing to understand the full picture of packaging design. Finally, students will take on a hands-on challenge: creating their own package to protect a potato chip, testing its durability, and evaluating how well their designs balance protection, cost, and environmental impact.

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Pharmaceuticals

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Designing & Producing Effective Medicines

In this lab, students will learn about the process of drug delivery in the body. By applying fundamentals of transport via diffusion across membranes and pharmaceutical drug encapsulation, students will design a small-scale staged release drug delivery system. Students will assess how effectively they can utilize various materials to encase differently colored tablets in water to stage their release of color in an order predetermined by the student.

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Product Engineering

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3D Printing and CAD

Students will learn about the different types of manufacturing, specifically the 3D printing process, and the implications it has in today’s society. After an introduction to Tinkercad, the design software the students will be using, they will have the design challenge of creating a puzzle with various-sized pieces that must fit into one another. This task will emphasize the importance of precise measurements. They will then have the opportunity to create their own design of their choosing.

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Remediated Sites

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Decontaminating and Restoring an Environment

In this lab, students will learn how engineers from different disciplines work together to monitor and clean up sites that have become contaminated by pollutants. Using the engineering design process, students will model an oil spill and conduct experiments using different clean up techniques they learn about in the lab.

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Renewable Energy

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Building Solar & Wind Systems

In this lab, students are introduced to renewable energy, where they will learn about the benefits of renewable energy sources in contrast to the dangers of non-renewable energy sources. Students will learn how to build their own solar-powered and wind-powered turbine prototype, while trying to keep their costs as low as possible. 

This reflects how today’s engineers work to lower the cost of renewable energy sources in order to make them more appealing to the public.

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Dr. Ludmilla Aristilde

Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

November 6, 2025

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Robotics

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Intro to Coding & Virtual Robot Navigation

In this Robotics lesson, students will utilize block coding to move a virtual robot in a particular manner. Students will learn the basics of coding, including how to use variables, loops, and conditional statements. Throughout a variety of activities, students will put their coding knowledge to the test. The final activity will be navigating a virtual robot through a maze. Students will use the Coding Design Process to craft their code and iterate their designs.

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Scientific Computing

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Sourcing & Visualizing Data with Python

In this lab, students will learn about how data can be sourced, analyzed, and visualized using code. They will choose a CSV file on a topic that interests them and use Google Colab with Python to explore and graph their data using powerful libraries. Together, students will learn the fundamentals of what code is, how it works, and some of the amazing things people create with it. 

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Semiconductors

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Electroplating and Integrated Circuit Production

In this lab, students will learn about what semiconductors are and how they form the "brains" of all modern electronics. Students will also examine how integrated circuits (ICs) are built, examine the engineering design process as it applies to maximizing yield, and perform an electroplating experiment using Copper Sulfate.

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Smart Circuits

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Building Programmable Electronics

Students are introduced to the development and applications of embedded systems and taught how to make their systems using a TinkerCad simulation of the Arduino Uno device and the Arduino programming application.

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Software Engineering

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Building an App Using MIT App Inventor

Students will learn to build an app using MIT App Inventor.

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Sound & Acoustics

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Mitigating Noise Pollution

In this lab, students are introduced to the basics of sound, where they will learn about vibrations, frequency, pitch, and real world examples of how these affect our ears. The students will then conduct a lab experiment, trying to reduce the noise pollution of a certain sound.

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