Engineering Students Celebrate E-Week
March 22, 2023 - This year’s National Engineering Week celebration at UCI, Feb. 27 – March 3, coincided with the arrival of an atmospheric river that threatened record amounts of rain. As engineers are trained to do, the Engineering Student Council, quickly pivoted for a solution, holding the first two days of the week’s activities in the student center rather than outside on Engineering Plaza.
E-Week, an annual event aimed at increasing public awareness and appreciation for the engineering profession, is ESC’s biggest event of the year. This year’s theme was “Shaping the future, one creative mind at a time.”
“I am immensely proud of not only the amazing planning and detail that all of ESC has put into E-Week, but mostly how flexible my entire team was in adapting to unexpected circumstances,” said Kaylee Chew, ESC president.
More than 330 students found their way to the student center Monday for the kickoff fair, which featured 14 student organization booths, raffle prizes, t-shirt pick up, photobooth and lip dub filming to “As It Was,” by Harry Styles.
Tuesday’s Dean’s Breakfast was also held in the student center with more than 100 students in attendance and a handful of professors. “Welcome to the Dean’s Breakfast,” said Dean Magnus Egerstedt. “I believe it is profoundly worthwhile to be together for events like this, so I’m glad you are here, despite the weather, and enjoy your pancakes!”
To encourage students to socialize with others at the breakfast, ESC created a customized Bingo game, which students could play to enter a raffle. The game required students to mingle with others and find the names of various types of engineering students, such as a transfer student, international student, first-generation, double major, etc. Three raffle prizes were given away: an air fryer, waffle maker and toaster.
On Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the virtual EngiTECH career fair drew 80 attendees and nine companies. The event was split into two three-hour sessions, morning and afternoon. Each company gave a short 10 minute presentation and then company representatives met one-to-one with students who were able to schedule 15 minute appointments ahead of time with whichever company they wished. Companies in the morning included Saratech, Safran, Thales and HDR. Afternoon attendees included Hazen, Sawyer, Los Angeles Department of Water, Skyworks, Advantest and Viasat.
The rain let up just in time for Antgineering, the ESC’s outreach event held on Engineering Gateway Plaza. Around 130 high schoolers from four schools (Trabuco Hills, Ocean View, Santiago and University) spent the day learning about engineering by engaging in hands-on activities. Around 30 engineering students volunteered to coordinate the activities that included building mini trebuchets, catapults, balloon-powered cars, paddle boats and more.
Friday featured Life Tank, a Shark Tank spin-off event for freshmen in ESC’s Leaders in Freshmen Engineering Program. The 50 participants spent all of winter quarter, in teams of five or six, researching, designing and prototyping a novel product. At the end of eight weeks, they pitched their product to judges at Life Tank. This year’s event featured nine teams, and most had either CAD models and animations, app design mockups or a physical prototype of their product.
The winning team, WEngineers, designed a product called Lengage, a glasses attachment that translated and transcribed foreign languages in real time. The team won a cash prize of $300.
“E-Week is always our biggest event because of the value it holds for every engineering student. No matter what year, major, or goals you have, there is an E-Week event that offers experience and value,” said Chew. “If students are looking to socialize and learn more about getting involved in engineering student organizations on campus, the kickoff fair is there. If students are looking for networking and professional development, EngiTech is ideal. E-Week unites engineers from a wide range of backgrounds and goals.”
– Lori Brandt
