Rice mechanical engineering grad student Andrew Lynch is using his knowledge of robotics to help local high school students develop interest and talent in science and engineering.

His efforts to give back to the community, he says, are his way of thanking all the people in the engineering profession—including his own parents, both engineers—who helped him develop his interest “in building and making things work.”

Lynch, 24, studies in Dr. Fathi Ghorbel’s Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Rice. He chose Lamar High School, an inner city school, because of its proximity to Rice. Faculty and administrators at Lamar welcomed his interest with open arms.

“Andrew has the command of these students’ attention,” said Lamar physics teacher Josephine Managuit. “The students really show enthusiasm working with Andrew and some of his fellow Rice students.”

In late 2008, enough interest was generated for students at Lamar to form a robotics club. In March, the team competed against 63 High Schools from across Texas and won the FIRST Robotics Regional event. The Lamar team, the only team to qualify from Houston, will now go to Atlanta to battle against almost 400 teams from 20 different countries.

“Working with Andrew has really inspired all of us,” said Lamar senior Keila Fong, fresh from a team victory, who herself hopes to become a mechanical engineer. “He is so knowledgeable and really allows us to get our hands dirty… it’s given us the confidence that we can succeed.”

Lynch, who received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Texas at Austin in 2007, has also helped form a Rice robotics club. He hopes the group will not only become involved in competitions, but also will work with other local high schools like Lamar.