Fun With Engineering

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Learning about engineering does not have to be boring. For students at the University of Arkansas, engineering studies can be fun. A variety of alternatives exist in many departments that let students learn many skills while having a great time.

Whether building a solar boat, a Baja buggy or a concrete canoe, students learn group and teamwork skills, technical writing and presentation skills and hands-on engineering. And they learn to work with team members from other disciplines, ranging from other engineering departments to business.

Some of these are courses - such as senior design - that require a lot of background in engineering. Other activities allow students at any level to participate for course credit as a special problems class. Still others are open to anyone who wants to participate, just for fun.

Biological and agricultural engineering has two main national competitions for students. In the tractor pull, students are given tires and an engine and they must design and build a 1/4-scale tractor capable of pulling a variety of loads. The students then travel to East Moline, Ill. for the national competition, which is sponsored by a consortium of farm equipment manufacturers. Students are awarded trophies based on the performance of their tractor as well as the quality of their written and oral presentations, which are made at the John Deere International headquarters.

The second event is the national design competition, which is sponsored by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and Agco. In this contest, which is open only to senior design students as part of a two-semester course, students solve actual industrial problems. University or Arkansas students have been very successful in this competition, coming in first for the last three years in which they have competed. Winners of the contest, which usually comprises 22 teams from the United States, receive $1250, $1000 and $750, respectively, for first, second and third place.

Chemical engineering students in one section of senior design compete in the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium (WERC) environmental design contest held annually in Las Cruces, N.M. Two or three teams from this class compete against about 40 teams from the United States and Mexico. Teams select one of eight real-world problems and develop a solution. In addition to building a working bench-scale model of their solution, students submit a written report, make a 15-minute oral presentation and present a bench-scale safety summary. Points are awarded for each component of the competition. Prize money is based on overall score, ranging from $11,000 for first place to $500 for winning a single area.

Mechanical engineering students compete in the Society of Automotive Engineers Inc. (SAE) Mini Baja, West Competition at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. In this contest, teams from about 70 schools from the western United States, Canada and Mexico enter one or two cars in the event. This is an open contest and any student who is interested may join the team.

In the SAE Mini Baja Competition, which began in 1976, students design and build a four-wheel, single-seat, off-road recreational prototype vehicle to be accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. The car must be marketable, safe and cost-efficient, yet able to withstand a battery of challenges through a maneuverability time trial, a four-hour endurance race, hill climbing and drag racing. An eight-horsepower engine provided by Briggs and Stratton powers every competing car.

Electrical engineering students compete in the Solar Splash solar/electric boat regatta sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Open to any interested student, this multidisciplinary team designs and builds a boat powered by solar energy to compete in a variety of speed, endurance and agility races. Although this was the first year a University of Arkansas team competed in the annual event, they placed fourth overall, just behind the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The team forms during the fall semester and continues work throughout the spring. Competition takes place in June at a different site each year.

Industrial engineering senior design class students compete in the national design competition sponsored by the Material Handling Industry of America. Much like WERC, student teams are given a design problem, which they must solve without input from faculty or outside experts. Contest teams come from schools such as Penn State, Purdue and Virginia Tech.

Senior-level industrial engineering students enrolled in material handling engineering compete in the Hytrol Challenge, sponsored by the Hytrol Conveyor Company. Students design an integrated control system to solve an industrial problem.

Civil engineering students compete in the national concrete canoe race sponsored by MasterBuilder and the American Society of Civil Engineers. The race is an open competition whereby students from any department can be on the team, but only those enrolled in civil engineering can actually paddle the boat. The team begins designing and building the canoe during the fall semester for the competition in May. A school can enter teams in the men’s, women’s, co-ed and faculty divisions. The event includes sprint and distances races with 2-person and 4-person crews and all teams from a school must use the same canoe. Students design and build new canoes every year.

However, for good, old fashioned fun, nothing beats the College of Engineering Engine Week held in the spring semester, near St. Patrick’s Day. Every engineering department enters teams and individuals for events ranging from basketball games to Velcro-wall jumping, the perennial egg drop to the Mr. Engineer Beauty pageant, although the contests vary from year to year,

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