Cal Poly Engineering Student Clubs are Learning – and Succeeding – by Doing
Cal Poly Engineering clubs have always been champions of the Learn by Doing model. With nearly 80 student clubs offering project, leadership, service, conference and competition opportunities, every day is a hands-on day for our students!
That hands-on learning makes an impact. The regional and national awards our students proudly bring home – in everything from sustainability to racing, and from cybersecurity to medical devices – shows impressive skills and knowledge, as well as an unrivaled commitment to community service and outreach.
Join us in supporting a department or one of our three highlighted programs with giving challenges:
Concrete Canoe
The concrete canoe team is just one example of how donors have substantial impact on student success. Members of the concrete canoe team design and produce a canoe made from concrete, allowing them to use engineering skills that bring together the dynamics and mechanics it takes to make concrete float. Concrete canoe illustrates Cal Poly's Learn by Doing philosophy as students work as a team throughout the year and compete at the regional Pacific Southwest Conference in the spring, before advancing to the national competition in the summer.
Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)
The sponsored SURP program enhances Learn by Doing principles by pairing undergraduate students with faculty to work on cutting-edge research aimed to solve key issues facing the world today. During the program, undergraduate researchers participate in interdisciplinary, hands-on project learning that fosters critical thinking, teamwork, communication and entrepreneurial skills.
Materials Engineering Department
Cal Poly Materials Engineering is the only primarily undergraduate materials engineering program in the nation. Materials engineers are the experts who know which materials can be selected based on the end user's needs, understanding why materials behave the way they do so they can develop new materials to fit specific purposes. Within the program, faculty and staff provide a positive learning environment where students learn engineering fundamentals, gain experience with materials characterization and testing equipment and develop teamwork and professional skills.
