All labs

Bridges

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.

Students will:
  • Engage in the Engineering Design Process
  • Analyze complex real-world problems following specific criteria in order to problem-solve
  • Discover and understand the variety of ways bridges can be designed as well as used in the present-day
  • Creatively design a bridge using materials at home
  • Reflect and explain their thinking through videos
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    Lab intro video

    25 minutes

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    Lab type

    Lab kit provided at no cost

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    Live Q&A session and wrap up with

    College Students & Professional Engineers

Join our Lab Day event!

Bridges

Learn about Lab Days
speaker-photo
May 22, 2024
Nicola Turrini

Global Corporate Partnerships Manager, Bridges to Prosperity

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Classroom Tools & Resources

Get access to all of the presentation materials, workbooks and resources to run the Bridges lab in your classroom.

Meet the lab intro host

Milton Davis
Curriculum Coordinator

Milton started at Goddard Space Flight Center as a Pathways Student in 2000 working with the Navigation & Mission Design (595) and Components and Hardware Systems (596) branches. As a co-op intern, Milton received a co-patent for his work on a demise-able momentum exchange system (reaction wheel) which has flown on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) missions. 

In his professional career, he has served in multiple roles in 500 including: avionics deputy lead for the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) mission; the mechanical lead of the Navigator GPS receiver on MMS and STP-H6; and, the mechanical lead for the Payload Control Computer on OSAM-1 (formerly Restore-L). 

Milton has co-patents for the SpaceCube 2 and SpaceCube 3 Reconfigurable Data Processing System. He has also served as a star tracker and inertial measurement unit lead on MMS, NICER, GEDI and PACE, and served as a co-lead, subject matter expert, and study lead of the Avionics Packaging Committee for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). 

Milton served as an associate branch head of the GNC hardware branch from 2014 to 2018 focusing on new business, new technology, and re-chartering branch career paths. He transitioned to OSAM-1 in 2019 to serve as the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robotics (SPIDER) Payload Systems and Phase lead, and in 2020 he started serving as the OSAM-1 Space Vehicle lead. 

Milton serves as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Greenbelt Space Chapter (GSC) President. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University, a Masters in Project Management from Johns Hopkins University, and is completing a Masters in Robotics from Johns Hopkins University.

Milton Davis

Curriculum Coordinator

Milton started at Goddard Space Flight Center as a Pathways Student in 2000 working with the Navigation & Mission Design (595) and Components and Hardware Systems (596) branches. As a co-op intern, Milton received a co-patent for his work on a demise-able momentum exchange system (reaction wheel) which has flown on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) missions. 

In his professional career, he has served in multiple roles in 500 including: avionics deputy lead for the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) mission; the mechanical lead of the Navigator GPS receiver on MMS and STP-H6; and, the mechanical lead for the Payload Control Computer on OSAM-1 (formerly Restore-L). 

Milton has co-patents for the SpaceCube 2 and SpaceCube 3 Reconfigurable Data Processing System. He has also served as a star tracker and inertial measurement unit lead on MMS, NICER, GEDI and PACE, and served as a co-lead, subject matter expert, and study lead of the Avionics Packaging Committee for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). 

Milton served as an associate branch head of the GNC hardware branch from 2014 to 2018 focusing on new business, new technology, and re-chartering branch career paths. He transitioned to OSAM-1 in 2019 to serve as the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robotics (SPIDER) Payload Systems and Phase lead, and in 2020 he started serving as the OSAM-1 Space Vehicle lead. 

Milton serves as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Greenbelt Space Chapter (GSC) President. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University, a Masters in Project Management from Johns Hopkins University, and is completing a Masters in Robotics from Johns Hopkins University.

Lab Day Keynote

Every Engineering Tomorrow Lab Day event ends with an inspiring keynote from an engineering expert. Watch this one from the latest Bridges Lab Day.

Avery Bang

Board Member, Bridges to Prosperity

WHY ENGINEERING TOMORROW
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