Last Thursday - Engineering Expo

Last Thursday, I was asked to photograph an event put on by the School of Engineering called Engineering Expo. Engineering students of all ages participate in this day long event in many different ways.

The day is divided into various sections: First, in the morning, presentations are given by students that have conducted research throughout the semester and seniors who had participated in senior design projects. Next, a break for lunch. Then in the early afternoon, the Freshman Design Competition is held, and finally are the poster presentations.

I worked all day long. Running through 2 full batteries and 2 different cameras. I spent a majority of my time trying to capture the excitement of the freshman design competition. Surprisingly, it was almost like being at a monster truck rally. The audience roared when the cars collided and booed when something failed. This competition consisted of students enrolled in the freshman design class that had to create a K'Nex car that was the best in their individual category. All the different class sections were divided into teams of 3 or 4 people and given their challenge - Cable Car, Rampster, Off Road Derby, or Tug-O-War.There is one more, but I cannot seem to remember it. In addition to being given their challenge, each team was introduced to a 'client' (an engineering professor) that had specific requirements for the team's car. After about a month or two of work, the student teams' vehicles were put to the test in this competition.

Each car was unique. Some where fairly massive, but others were tiny. You could tell the teams that has spent hours upon hours and sleepless nights working on their cars because they would carry them around delicately, from those who didn't.When I was a freshman I participated in this competition and this year, on the outside, it is a completely different feeling. I enjoyed seeing how people who weren't competing react to what was going on and I loved the different styles of the cars. Overall, last Thursday was a blast. I wonder what the rest of this week will hold, outside of homework of course. -Ciao