IEEE Students Build Hands-On Skills at Soldering Workshop

On April 17, IEEE, IEEE-HKN, and IEEE WIE jointly organized and hosted two sessions of a soldering workshop, held at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM, respectively. Each two-hour session was well attended, with over 60 CSU students participating in total, 63% of whom had no prior soldering experience. The workshop provided comprehensive technical instruction, including proper iron temperature control, tip tinning, the role of flux, identification of high-quality versus cold solder joints, and safe desoldering practices. Following the instructional overview, participants applied their newly acquired skills by building spinning LED top circuits from scratch and successfully populating custom PCBs with resistors, capacitors, transistors, and diodes.

The workshops were a collaborative effort involving student leaders and the faculty advisor. Akshat Shah, President of IEEE and Treasurer of IEEE-HKN, and past Student Representative for the CSU Board of Trustees, secured SGA funding and led the planning and execution of both workshop sessions. IEEE WIE officers Grace Quaintance (President), Madeline Crissman (Vice President), and Freeda Gomes (Secretary) played key roles in planning, organizing, and coordinating the event. Faculty advisor Dr. Lili Dong, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who initiated the workshop, provided promotional, on-site, and logistical support throughout the planning and execution of both sessions.

During the hands-on portion, a dedicated team of experienced student volunteers, including Chris Miller, Mark Svigel, Kevin Baldoza, Victoria Stege, Audrey Figueroa, Ali Khater, and Laurel Paul, provided individualized guidance to participants. Mugdha Gomes served as the official photographer, documenting the event.

Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Participants appreciated the opportunity to develop practical, hands-on hardware skills beyond the standard classroom curriculum and left better prepared for future engineering work.

Learn more about Washkewicz College of Engineering at https://engineering.csuohio.edu and our Student Organizations at https://engineering.csuohio.edu/student-resources/engineering-student-o….