UCI students celebrate 30th annual national engineers week

Irvine, Calif., February 10, 2003 — Students and faculty at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine will celebrate National Engineers Week Feb. 18 to 22, 2003.

Engineers Week, better known as E-Week, is one of the most popular and unique traditions at UCI. Now in its 30th year, E-Week has grown into an eclectic mix of activities, including over 20 competitions designed to highlight student talent, a high school outreach day, a technical career fair, faculty/student softball and an awards banquet. This year's theme is "Seeing the Invisible, Achieving the Impossible."

The festivities will kick off with an opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, followed by the traditional E-Week Breakfast—when students enjoy a meal prepared by their professors. Competitions run from Tuesday morning to Friday afternoon and include the following:

• Catapult Competition-designers must create a device to toss, propel, kick or fling a beanbag as far as possible;
• Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition-builders fabricate a Popsicle-stick bridge to support an applied load;
• Egg Drop Competition-participants construct a package that will protect eggs dropped from the 10-story Engineering Tower;
• Rube Goldberg Competition-students create a complex contraption to perform a simple task.

In addition, more than 20 local companies will participate in the EngiTECH Career Fair on Wednesday, Feb.19, and sponsor various activities during E-Week.

The Engineering Student Council oversees E-Week, which is intended to generate public awareness and appreciation for the engineering profession and emphasize cooperation between industry and academia. For a complete schedule of events, visit http://esc.eng.uci.edu/eweek/.