The College of Engineering will greet the future of Iowa State with a new way of getting around campus.

The College of Engineering is using a Segway Human Transporter as a tool to guide freshman tours around campus and to educate other teachers and students in schools around the community about science.

“We’re trying to use it as a current recruitment tool and we want to target younger-aged kids and keep them interested in science,” said Loren Zachary, assistant dean of students for the College of Engineering.

The Segway, invented by entrepreneur Dean Kamen and introduced to the public in 2001, is the “world’s first self-balancing human transporter,” according to the Segway Web site, www.segway. com.

To move forward, a Segway rider leans forward, and to reverse the rider leans backward.

The university plans to train ISU students to ride the Segway for campus tours. The College of Engineering hopes the use of the Segway will keep the university on the cutting edge of technology.

“I think we’re ahead of the pack,” Zachary said.

President Gregory Geoffroy had his chance to experience the self-balancing machine Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s sort of like a bike — you don’t really know how it works, but it works anyway,” Geoffroy said, gliding back and forth in the hallway of his office in Beardshear Hall. “It feels like a oneness.”

Camille Schroeder, program coordinator for the College of Engineering and trained Segway rider, said the gyroscopes and onboard computer read Geoffroy’s balance 100 times a second.

After a few indoor test runs, Geoffroy headed outside for a real world test with the Segway.

“I could have a lot of fun on it,” Geoffroy said, traveling across the courtyard behind Beardshear Hall.

The Segway can navigate most walkable areas, including paved surfaces, grass, dirt roads and inclines, and can reach a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour.

“It was really neat to see Geoffroy cruising around campus,” said Brad Neilly, senior in mechanical engineering.

Andrew Severin, graduate in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, spoke with Geoffroy while the president was showing off the Segway Human Transporter to students.

“I’m surprised to see the [Segway] at Iowa State,” Severin said.

“I didn’t think [Segway] was that widespread.”