Students exiting their chemistry lectures in Young Hall can
expect to be greeted by concrete canoes and mousetrap cars in the
Court of Sciences, signs of UCLA’s annual Engineering
Week.
E-Week, which started Monday and will run until Friday, allows
engineering students from across South Campus to promote student
groups, display projects, and demonstrate the fun side of
engineering through hands-on activities.
“People keep thinking engineers are nerds, but we do a lot
of things that are fun,” said Gigi Lau, fourth-year
electrical engineering student and president of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
In Monday’s opening ceremony in Bruin Plaza, organizers
and Vijay Dhir, the dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering
and Applied Science, served free ice cream made using liquid
nitrogen.
Last night, organizers put on “E-Week Idol” at The
Cooperage where engineering students could show off their musical
talents.
But E-Week also gives engineering students the opportunity to
display projects that have required months to plan and create.
“We’re proud of what we do and we like to display
it,” said Carrie Del Boccio, a fourth-year civil engineering
student and president of the American Society of Civil
Engineers.
Throughout the year, engineering students also have the
opportunity to test out their designs by competing against other
schools.
Over spring break, ASCE participated in the steel bridge
competition and had to build a bridge able to carry 2500 pounds.
Entries were judged by their ability to hold the weight,
construction time and lightness of the bridge.
“I thought this would be a good project to show what we
do,” said fourth-year civil engineering student Alison
Crabtree and leader of the steel bridge project. “A lot of
people ask me “˜How do you build a bridge?'”
It’s fun to be able to take a creation and actually use
it, Del Boccio said.
“It’s probably the same sort of satisfaction to be
in the building you designed,” she said.
Others showed that engineering could be applied for humanitarian
reasons.
One project displayed by Engineers Without Borders was a solar
powered oven able to be used in places where fossil fuels are not
readily available. Another project they are working on is a water
purification system that would use layers of charcoal and sand.
“We’re trying to demonstrate sustainable
technologies that developing countries could use,” said
Philip Wegge, a fourth-year aerospace engineering student and
president of EWB.
In the summer, EWB is planning to build a health clinic in
Thailand using only materials from local providers.
Engineering Week was coordinated by the Engineering Society of
the University of California, and activities were organized by
various engineering student societies.