All week long, engineers from different organizations all over
campus will be celebrating Engineers’ Week.
Coordinated by the Engineering Society of the University of
California, the weeklong celebration will include events held in
the Court of Sciences showcasing projects student and faculty
engineers have been working on throughout the year.
“Our goal is to raise awareness (to) the different sides
of engineers as people, as well as to promote communication between
both sides of campus,” said Alice Wang, co-chair of ESUC and
a fourth-year computer science student.
“We want to try and bridge both the physical and
(psychological) gap,” she said.
E-Week first originated in 1951, as a national celebration and
is celebrated annually in February to honor George Washington, who
had a background in engineering.
In the early 1960s, UCLA started to celebrate E-Week as well. At
UCLA the event is held annually during spring quarter in order to
avoid rainy weather.
E-Week is held throughout the week in the Court of Sciences, and
serves to familiarize the campus with the engineering industry and
its place in the modern world.
Among the projects to be showcased are the returning gas powered
RC cars (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), concrete canoes
(American Society of Civil Engineers) and the popular egg drop
contest (Society of Latino Engineers and Scientists).
Some new projects on display this year include the human-powered
vehicle (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and dual control
robots (Triangle).
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers will be
hosting lasertag on Wednesday, and the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers will be distributing liquid nitrogen-cooled ice
cream on Thursday.
In addition to all the projects, there will be other events
highlighting this week:
Microsoft will have a booth open today, offering its MSDN AA
“No Limits” presentation.
UCLA electrical engineering Professor Greg Pottie will be
speaking about the engineering industry today at 6 p.m. in Boelter
5800.
“The technical part of my talk will focus on future sensor
and robotic networks, while the non-technical part will focus on
the choices that are available in engineering careers,” he
said.
On a less serious note, E-Week Idol, which was created as a
parody to the popular TV show “American Idol,” will
showcase engineers’ on-stage talents, Wednesday at 7 p.m.
E-Week Idol may also include a fashion show.
There is also an Engineering Jeopardy (Biomedical Engineering
Society) contest planned for Thursday, a new event this year.
E-Week will culminate with the End-Of-Week BBQ, where the annual
“Professor of the Year” will be awarded. Students can
vote up through Friday for the professor they think has shown the
most dedication.
Friday will also feature a PIE eating contest, sponsored by
Pilipinos in Engineering, and a solar oven will be on display
courtesy of Engineers Without Borders.
Kimberly Treebs, external president of the Society of Women
Engineers and a fifth-year mechanical engineering student, believes
E-Week is a good way to promote the industry while enjoying
themselves.
“I think E-Week is a great chance for all students to
learn about engineering, especially what the engineering student
organizations are all about,” she said. “We get to
promote female engineering students as well as have fun and
tell students about our club.”
SWE will be featuring a bottle boat race on Wednesday.
E-Week is also a time to attract new members to the engineering
organizations on campus.
“E-Week is a good way for engineers to express their
creativity and display some of the yearlong projects they’re
involved in,” said Nathan Au, vice president of ASME and a
fourth-year mechanical engineering student.
“It’s a good way of exposing non-engineers to the
lighter side of engineering. We hope to spur some interest in
our events and recruit some young talent to become more involved
with extra-curricular activities,” he said.