Last week, we had a great time bringing together students, volunteers, and members of our local STEM community for an evening of hands-on learning, creativity, and a little Halloween fun. Students in grades 6–12 had the opportunity to take on haunted circuit challenges, experiment with solder-less breadboards, and learn how components like LEDs, resistors, photoresistors, and timers work together to create functional circuits.
More importantly, this event marked Step 1 in a multi-part microelectronics engineering series designed to introduce students to the full hardware design lifecycle.
Students began with circuit fundamentals by building, testing, and troubleshooting physical circuits. Future events will build on that foundation by introducing PCB design, where students can translate circuits into schematics and custom printed circuit boards, followed by integrated circuit design, where they can explore how larger electronic systems are miniaturized onto silicon microchips.
The goal is to give students a hands-on pathway from understanding basic electronics all the way to seeing how modern microelectronics are designed and developed.
A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered their time, helped organize the event, and participated. Events like this are made possible by people who are passionate about creating engaging opportunities for the next generation of engineers, scientists, and innovators.
We’re grateful to PAST Foundation, Columbus IEEE SSCS & CASS Joint Chapter, and the Columbus Metrobots for helping make the evening such a success. Thank you to everyone who joined us and brought so much energy and curiosity to Circuitry Mania!