Hk Maker Lab: An Engineering Design Summer Program for High School Students

Aaron M. Kyle focuses on enhancing undergraduate education while teaching First Year Design, Senior Design and Bioinstrumentation.  Dr. Kyle aspires to create new courses that will provide robust design experiences for undergraduates between their first and final years of study. He is also devising methods and researching the efficacy of  intentionally addressing DEI issues in design projects and engineering education.

In 2014, Dr. Kyle created and launched the HYPOTHEKids (Hk) Maker Lab, an NIH-funded set of programs focused on introducing underprivileged and underrepresented minority high school students in New York City to engineering design and biomedical research.  As a result of this program, over 160 high school students have learned and applied a bio-engineering design process. The program has propelled students to biomedical laboratory and biotechnology industry internships and the pursuit of STEM majors.  He also guided NYC teachers in the development of engineering design-centric courses for middle and high school students. These courses are currently being taught in seven (7) NYC high schools, impacting over 1000 students. With his move to Duke, Dr. Kyle will work to replicate these efforts for students and teachers in Durham, NC, and surrounding communities.