Josie Hughes, 1st year Sensor CDT PhD student, taught a group of Cambridge undergraduate engineers the basics of interfacing sensors with Arduino microcontrollers as part of a project to introduce students to coding and electronics.
Undergraduate engineering students at Murray Edwards College enjoyed an afternoon at the end of term diving into programming Arduino microcontrollers and using their electronics skills to build a sound level meter and temperature sensor.
The event brought together 17 female Murray Edwards College undergraduate engineers from all four years of the Cambridge engineering degree. Thomas Quinn, a 3rd year undergraduate student at Loughborough University and Josie Hughes, a 1st year Sensor CDT student and supervisors for electrical engineering, delivered a course packed with fun and serious engineering. At the end of the afternoon the students were able to monitor and log their room temperature with an Arduino and left inspired to further explore the capabilities of microcontrollers.
 |  The students only needed to bring their laptops and could keep their Arduinos after the event. Multicolour LED lights indicating sound level (left). |
Visiting Professorial Fellow Denise Morrey and Oliver Hadeler, Director of Studies in Engineering at Murray Edwards College and Programme Manager of the Sensor CDT agreed that a basic knowledge of programming is an essential part of an engineer's education. Together with Alice Cicirello, Bye-Fellow at Murray Edwards College and Research Scientist at Schlumberger Research, they devised a course which was educational, practical and fun.
The event was supported by Murray Edwards College, Oliver Hadeler and Lee Smith, ARM Fellow.