7/9/2026 Jackson Brunner
The 2026 edition of Mid-GLAM, a day camp for middle school students hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, helped students build a greater interest in STEM career paths. Groups took part in fun, hands-on projects using everyday materials.
Written by Jackson Brunner
Middle school students who flock to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering every summer for Mid-GLAM camp are presented with three goals: to have fun, learn something, and walk away knowing more about what materials science is — in that order.
The week-long day camp is operated by the WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering) Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, while the day-to-day activity structure is organized by the materials department. In 2026, nearly marking the ten-year anniversary of Mid-GLAM, Assistant Professor Chris Anderson took the reins as the latest of the rotating cast of department faculty to put together projects for the kids.
Each day of the camp, which ran June 22-26, 2026, took on a different theme. Students worked to make things colorful on Monday, responsive or “smart” on Tuesday, cleaner and better for the environment on Wednesday, strong on Thursday and edible and tasty on Friday. Campers divided into competitive teams, using everyday materials to build or break things in a collaborative project.
“I especially loved making slime and watching the chemical reaction occur when we added certain materials to it,” said Olivia Varboncouer, an incoming high school freshman.
“We got to design capsules for eggs to keep them from cracking,” added student Kanisha Sahoo. “It might seem like one of the most basic experiments, but the way we designed it, that was actually like being in a lab and making sure we know it works and can test it out.”
The egg drop experiment, part of Tuesday’s focus on creating something responsive that could actively protect an egg, seemed to be a lot of fun for Anderson, who not only supervised the project, but later led the dropping of the egg-carrying structures. From just above the lab table height, the kids worked on all the way to the very top of a second-story staircase. Each team was awarded points if they could build a creative enough structure to protect their egg.
“I sort of get to be a kid again,” said Anderson with a smile. “Watching them do it and explore and fail, then succeed, asking questions about what they’re designing — that’s the fun part for me.”
Anderson was assisted by a four-person faculty team and graduate students to supervise students in their day-to-day experiments. Faculty helpers in 2026 included Associate Professors Chris Evans and Jessica Krogstad and Assistant Professors Yuanwei Li and Jean-Charles Stinville. The graduate student team included Sunny Chen, James Tallman,Nathaniel Irwin, Montse Solis, Tyler Salrin and Inseo Woo.
Those teaching the camp carry a critical goal of helping students realize the value of STEM concepts and building excitement for their future. By conducting experiments with plastics, metals and other everyday objects, they hope the next generation of youth might see themselves in the shoes of materials engineers.
“I think the biggest thing materials science always struggles with is that no one knows what it is. I didn’t know what it was when I was their age,” Anderson said. “We don’t have the branding that civil or aerospace engineering might have, where they build bridges and planes, so, really, we are tackling that. We want kids to know materials science is fun and relevant.”
Encouragingly, 2026 camp attendees already seem dead set on becoming engineers.
“This camp helped me realize I can be a different type of engineer,” said Davies Nsimba, an upcoming high school freshman. “I can help a lot of people and maybe end pollution one day. That’s my biggest goal.”
“I want to make life safer and more sustainable,” added Sahoo. “All of the world is heating up. In Utah, there are frequent fires happening. Maybe materials science can make it so we’re safer and we’re not burning the earth.”
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Chris Anderson is an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and is affiliated with both the Department of Physics and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a member of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center, the Materials Research Laboratory and the Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Lab.
Chris Evans is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor in the Department Materials Science and Engineering and is affiliated with both the Materials Research Laboratory and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois.
Jessica Krogstad is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Jean-Charles Stinville is an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory.