Student engineers to mark National Engineers Week

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The College of Engineering at Bucknell University will mark National Engineers Week Feb. 16-20 with a host of fun events designed to be a test of engineering creativity, teamwork and inventiveness.

“Engineers Week serves several goals,” said Karen Marosi, associate dean of engineering at Bucknell. “First, it is a week of fun activities and camaraderie for our engineering students and faculty. Second, it raises awareness about engineering at Bucknell. Our celebration also coincides with National Engineers Week, which is celebrated across the country to increase public awareness of engineering and technology careers as well as the public’s understanding and appreciation for engineers’ contributions to society.”

Throughout the week, student engineering teams will earn points in a variety of competitions. The top three winners will be awarded bragging rights style awards of a Golden Hammer, Silver Screwdriver and a Bronze Bolt.

Students face off
A live Engineers Week event will take place at noon, Tuesday, Feb. 17, on the Dana Engineering Building Quad as student teams face off in a textbook toss, a problem-solving math relay, cookie-eating and egg-drop contests. The rain date is Thursday, Feb. 19.

In the egg-drop competition, student teams using supplied materials will have 40 minutes to design and build a device that will hold an egg and protect it from breaking as it is dropped from the balcony of the Breakiron Engineering Building. The team landing an unbroken egg closest to the target center wins.

In the event of snow, an engineering-related snow sculpture contest will substitute for the egg-drop contest.

More highlights
Additional Engineers Week highlights include a banner, poetry and non-computer generated art competitions and a six-minute video production – all engineering related. The banners will dress the exterior of Dana Engineering all week.

Thursday, Feb. 19, will also see a Money War in which the engineering majors – biomedical, chemical, civil and environmental, computer science, computer, electrical and mechanical – collect money with proceeds going to the Public Library of Union County for the purchase of science and engineering-related books. Coins will be worth face value while bills are worth their negative value. The major with the highest point value, or least negative value, will be the winner.

The week culminates with a career networking event with engineering alumni from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Larison Dining Hall and an Engineers Week dinner at 5:30 p.m. in Bostwick Dining hall.

27 percent women
Bucknell’s College of Engineering enrolls 625 students – about 27 percent of whom are women, one of the largest female percentages in the country.

Celebrated in the United States since 1951, National Engineers Week is an initiative of the National Engineers Week Foundation, a formal coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and governmental agencies.

Contact: Division of Communications