Rocky Mountain MESA

Mission

Rocky Mountain MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) is a statewide/regional organization for traditionally underserved and underrepresented students that provides tools, technologies, resources and collaborative partnerships with key higher education and industry professionals to optimize K-14 student preparation and success for leadership in tomorrow’s diverse STEM workforce.

By forming partnerships with businesses, school districts and academia, RM MESA strengthens K-14 education.

We are a chapter of a larger national organization, MESA USA. Since 1970 MESA has helped students become scientists, engineers and mathematicians, filling an urgent need for qualified technical professionals.

Vision for the Future

While combining the prowess of students of all ages with industry professionals to solve world problems, Rocky Mountain MESA helps K-14 students transcend traditional STEM outcomes and pathways to optimize successful leadership in industry, research and service to meet the global STEM workforce demands of tomorrow.

Current Events

On-going – We are still actively recruiting graduate students and post-doc volunteers, from both Mines and NREL.  Contact Dr. Christian Beren, cberen@mines.edu, with your interest.

Teachers and RMMESA staff at the Academic Year 2024-25 Teacher Training Kickoff.

September 6, 2024  –  A small group of seven teacher Advisors representing 6 different districts from 6 different schools kicked off the academic year with aT eacher Advisor Kick off meeting at Mines. Schools attending were Warren Tech Central; Arvada West ; Arvada High;  Fort Lupton MS, Legacy High, Broomfield High), impacting just under 200 students in their RM MESA after school engineering discovery clubs.

Support from NEXUS and CMI research centers/hubs was recognized in RM MESA support staff introductions.

The agenda included an overview of MESA and the equity program curriculum, as well as a training actibity with micro:bit processors by Chris Keller, Google computer engineer.

Teachers were given a Mines swag bag filled with goodies and a small stipend for the contributions to the year.

This Kick-off meeting/event will be delivered again via zoom to an additional 10 to 15 teachers with most teacher attendees expected to be from rural Colorado.

We look forward to a fun and productive academic year!

Past Years

Academic Year 2023-24

PROJECT TITLE: Project Hydrocharger

PROJECT GOAL: We are proposing the implementation of a power generating

Team Hydro Charger’s Academic Poster

hydroelectric turbine on the water intake from the city main line to the residential plumbing. This would passively generate energy whenever residents use
water in their house. The one downside to this would be a sacrifice in water pressure but this could be counteracted by using smaller faucet heads or potentially minimized in the future by developments in our design.

Academic Year 2022-23

PROJECT TITLE: Fighting Hunger One Click at a Time

PROJECT GOAL: The Broomfield FISH App seeks to overcome the language inequities of the users of Broomfield FISH (Fellowship in Serving Humanity), our local food bank, to share shopping instructions with users along with breaking the barrier of communication by providing users with a calendar, donation information, and FISH’s high needs items.

According to the US Census Bureau, about 11.6 percent of the United States live below the poverty line. That is about 37.9 million people. Our project exists to help those with food scarcity or financial problems in our community. Created for those who are already tackling the problem, FISH, our app allows them to more-effectively serve the needs of their users. With our app’s launch, FISH has not only been able to improve communication, but also break the language barrier between themselves and users. Additionally, the app can be catered to both domestic and international food banks.

2nd Place, State Competition

Warren Tech Central High School

PROJECT TITLE: Bag Transport Tank

PROJECT GOAL: This project aims to remove inequity by helping disabled people and the elderly to be more independent. Our project does this by helping move their equipment without the need for outside help. Our main focus for this project is Robbie, a 6th grader, with a condition known as Kyphosis. This makes it extremely hard to move and function in everyday life. Kyphosis targets the spine and makes it difficult even to keep balance. Robbie is only 40 lbs and 37’ tall, he needs to have a medical bag with him that weighs up to 50 lbs, he is unable to move it himself. The BTT will aid Robbie and others by transporting heavy objects that would be almost impossible independently.

The main goal is being able to move Robbie’s bag up on mostly flat surfaces, this is the most important because it’s one of the only definite requirements from Robbie. The other main goal is to help Robbie with his movement, which we are doing by adding a rest bar and an alert mechanism so that people will see him when they are walking. We also have the goal of being able to use stairs which allows Robbie flexibility, for instance, if a place doesn’t have elevator access.

3rd Place, State Competition

Broomfield High School

PROJECT TITLE: B-Ready Recycling 

PROJECT GOAL: In our community, many do not have access to recycling or choose to neglect it. Our project’s goal is to counteract this by educating, helping, and bringing awareness to the need to recycle.

With our project, we plan to make it beneficial for everyone in our community. Still, our primary beneficiaries are those who lack access to recycling in their community, then secondarily those who choose not to recycle. Unreasonably recycling has been incredibly expensive for fellow families in Colorado. Meaning the logical idea of recycling had been more socially unaccepted. Our plan is to convey the Broomfield audience through our website to reject this previous idea. Having an educational website can be used as a resource to help educate the community on recycling.