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Honda is a major regional employer with about 1,400 residents from Clark and Champaign counties who work in one of its several sites in Ohio.
“When we started this exhibit with COSI, we really wanted to focus on creating enthusiasm for the next generation workforce regarding STEAM-related careers,” said Samantha Lynch, coordinator for philanthropy at Honda.
STEAM refers to careers in science, technology, engineering, applied arts and math.
“We really wanted to translate that into an interactive exhibit where it doesn’t just show what the careers are but the people behind the careers and how the future generation can take the same steps they did,” Lynch said.
Students who visit the exhibit will be able to jump on springs and shocks to learn how suspension systems make a vehicle’s ride more smooth, for example. Or they can learn how a vehicle’s technology protects passengers during a crash or how an internal combustion engine converts fuel into motion.
In one exhibit, students can sit in the driver’s seat of a Honda vehicle and watch a screen as a crash test dummy careens toward a wall. After the crash, students can turn the wheel to watch various parts of the crash in slow motion to see how the the vehicle is impacted.
Honda has worked closely with area school and other entities in recent years in a long-term effort to promote careers in science and math. Last year, the automaker committed $1 million to a program to provide scholarships at area community colleges, pay for mobile manufacturing laboratories and develop a new work-study pilot program.
A recent study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute showed as many as 3.4 million manufacturing jobs will be needed in the next decade. As much as 60 percent of them might be left vacant due to a lack of interest and skilled workers, according to the study.
“We want to sit back as a fly on the wall and see the public and the kids get excited and see the exhibits and get really passionate,” said Brian Bautsch, a principal engineer in the crash test department at Honda who worked on the exhibit.
The exhibit is scheduled to remain open at COSI for at least three years, Lynch said.
“This exhibit demonstrates the power of collaboration,” said David Chesebrough, president and CEO of COSI.
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