Rockwell Automation in Mayfield Heights hosted nearly 60 Northeast Ohio students Thursday as part of National Engineering Week.

Rockwell employees exposed eighth graders from Chardon and Brush to the kind of problem-solving and teamwork needed to become an engineer.

Activities included creating a container made of popsicle sticks designed to protect an egg from up to 10Gs of force. Rockwell engineers later tested the containers in a lab. The students also created and programmed Lego robots on computers.

Rockwell officials said it was important to present engineering to the students as a viable career option. According to a 2011 Georgetown University study, there will be 2.4 million available jobs for people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees by 2018.