The old cliché of "Do what you love and it won't feel like work," is actually a reality for junior defensive back, Nick Gnitzcavich. As a mechanical engineering major, Nick has found a successful way to combine his passion for sports with his career objectives all while encouraging the youth to do the same.
Engineering Ambassadors is an outreach program composed of highly motivated RPI engineering students who are devoted to inspiring youth to get involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The entire program is funded by United Technologies Corporation, whose donations help with the purchasing of equipment for the STEM presentations given by ambassadors like Nick for local high schools.
"We try to inspire the younger audience to do what we do as engineers and really help change the world." he said.
Engineering Ambassadors takes 10 trips to high schools in the Capital Region per semester. Each ambassador develops a presentation that is made at a workshop in the beginning of the school year based on their personal passion and it is presented in the classroom. Universities from around the nation come to learn how to make the proper presentation and work on the proper communication skills to present to a grade school audience. One way to encourage younger students to be involved in science and engineering is to show them how it relates to their everyday life; Nick has the perfect pitch: sports and athletics!
As an ambassador, Nick teaches students how engineers play a major role in athletics from analyzing athletes to designing the equipment that athletes use and wear. As a football player majoring in mechanical engineering, Nick is naturally drawn to the engineering of football equipment.
"Mechanical engineers in football are responsible for creating the safest possible equipment without hurting the player's game."
In analyzing athletes, Nick uses EKG sensors, force plates, and photoelectric sensors to monitor the student activities in the classrooms. During his presentation, Nick hooks students up to the EKGs and has them do various athletic exercises, such as pushups, which examine how much muscle they are using to exert themselves. His presentation also includes demonstrations of the students jumping off of the plates to see how much force is generated in each jump. Having once been in their shoes, Nick knows that his presentations have an enormous impact on the students' lives.
"I know in high school I really had no idea of what I wanted to do, so a presentation like this would have definitely helped to motivate me to go into an engineering related field. I now have a direct impact on their life and possible future career."
"When students see something that I'm passionate about, like sports, and how engineers are involved behind the scenes, they often get passionate about the subject too".
While Nick finds great satisfaction in mentoring and providing inspiration for the youth through Engineering Ambassadors, the program has also provided him with a number of opportunities. He has participated in an Undergraduate Research Project (URP) in which he works under a graduate student, John Drazan, to teach students of Albany High School how engineering is used in sports. With URP, and John, Nick helps the high school students create presentations of their own about their favorite athletes and the physics of what makes them excel in their respective sports.
Engineers create equipment that can truly revolutionize the game for the better. Nick's ultimate goal is to see the major strides that engineering will take to overcome any obstacle in sports, whether that is to create concussion-proof helmets, baseball bats that hit balls hundreds of feet, or shoes proven to help you jump higher. With engineers like Nick helping to develop today's youth in the areas of STEM, the possibilities are endless!
