Students participate in Engineering Week activities
Around 250 students gathered in the Sunburst Lounge on Thursday to watch the Pinewood Derby and various other events of Engineering Week.
Jared Tonioli, chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and host of the derby, said, “It is an opportunity for engineers to put their skills to use outside of the classroom and have some fun doing it. It’s also fun for everyone to see what we are up to,” he said.
John Jacklin, Engineering senator for the Associated Students of Utah State University, said, “The activities of E-Week are a great way to bring students together in a social and fun environment.”
The races included three categories: the stock class, which follows standard Scout derby rules; the modified class, where almost anything goes; and the freshman class, which is a modified heat for freshman, Tonioli explained.
When the races took way around 2 p.m., there were 39 cars entered into the double elimination tournament, with about 30 participants.
Tonioli said many participants make their cars quickly, but others spend countless hours carving, painting and detailing.
The results of the race didn’t always reflect the time spent on the car. Sascha Wright, a freshman in mechanical/aerospace engineering, participated with two friends, who built their car in about four hours.
“Sometimes split-minute jobs do the best. We got beat by a car built in maybe a couple of minutes with duct tape holding weights on it. It was kind of discouraging, but we were surprised to get that far,” Wright said.
Kevin Hamblin, a freshman in mechanical engineering who was the winner of the freshman race, placed third in the modified race.
“My car is just a wedge-shaped block of wood with wheels on it. I taped lead weights to the top. For the modified class I used the same car, I just put on a bigger weight,” he said.
The top places in the stock class went to Kyle Monfredi, Matt Farmer and Doug Hunt. Kelly Smith, Brett Rupper and Hamblin took the first three places in the modified race, and Hamblin, Wright and Todd Coburn placed in the freshman race.
While many of the participants admitted they raced only for the credit they would receive in class, others agreed with Hunt, a senior in mechanical engineering, who said, “I find it interesting and fun to put to practice, through the requirements, some of what we learn.”
Other events of E-Week included the AEP Mini-Glider Race, ALAA Water Rockets, TBP Beta-Bowl Final, SWE Calculator and Slide-Rule Quick Draw, and the Ball Aerospace Robot Sumo Competition.
The Sumo robots shared the crowd from the derby as 15 participants presented their robots to compete in a wrestling match. The rules followed closely to those of a real Sumo fight. Winners were presented with cash prizes, and each participant received a T-shirt.
Engineering Week ended with the 2003 College of Engineering Awards Banquet on Friday night, where outstanding students, teachers, advisers and alumni were recognized.
Dean Scott Hinton spoke at the banquet.
“Our purpose here is to honor some students and faculty and take a moment to celebrate who we are as engineers,” he said.
This year there were three times as many participants in the E-Week competitions as last year, and more than $3,000 worth of prizes were raised, explained Jacklin. “E-Week was an extreme success,” he said.
–julia@cc.usu.edu