E-Week Kicks Off with a Bang
March 15, 2022 - Samueli School students celebrated National Engineers Week with five days of activities, Feb. 22-26. Presented by UC Irvine’s Engineering Student Council (ESC), E-Week is an annual event aimed at increasing public awareness and appreciation for the engineering profession. This year’s theme was “Reimagining the Possible.”
“This year was the first E-Week back in person after nearly two years of remote instruction, and it was honestly so exciting and enjoyable to finally see the campus come back to life!” said Brandon Liu, ESC president and fourth-year student majoring in aerospace engineering. “My council worked very hard to make these events a reality, and I am immensely proud of them.”
Around 500 students attended the Kickoff Fair, Tuesday, where they picked up their free Samueli School T-shirt and participated in nearly a dozen games hosted by a variety of engineering student organizations. The first day also featured the filming of the traditional lip dub and the opportunity to ride a mechanical bull.
On Wednesday, more than 300 students showed up for the Dean’s Breakfast. Dean Magnus Egerstedt shared with students that this was his first E-week celebration. “I’ve been at UCI since July, and they didn’t put this stuff in the job description,” said Egerstedt. “Yesterday I rode a mechanical bull, played Connect Four and lip synced to Taylor Swift’s song ‘Shake it Off.’ Today I flipped some pancakes, though I’m from Sweden where the pancakes are much thinner. Honestly, I’m so glad that we get to be here in person today. You students are the whole reason we exist as a university.”
On Thursday, the ESC students hosted Ant-Gineering, an outreach event for high schoolers, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Aldrich Park. More than 100 youth from three high schools (Santiago, South East and University) attended the fun-filled day, where students learned about engineering principles through interactive hands-on activities. ESC and several student organizations (Engineers Without Borders, Engineers for a Sustainable World, UCI Rocket Project and Anteater Formula Racing) hosted 10 booths. The high school students built and tested the strength of gumdrop and toothpick structures. They learned about conductors by creating a battery using pennies, paper towels and vinegar. With cardboard boxes and direct current motors, they made propeller cars, and they experimented with different ways to fold paper airplanes to maximize wind resistance.
“We felt that students learn better by doing than just listening, so we aimed to create as many interactive booths as we could,” said Katlyn Chiu, ESC community outreach co-director and a fourth-year student majoring in mechanical engineering.
The high school students then participated in a trivia contest based on all the information they gleaned from the activities. The day was capped off with one large paper airplane flying competition between the schools. Prizes included Raspberry Pi kits, a Bytes and Bots coding or fabrication class, UCI sweaters, mini drones and a Hydro Flask.
“We were so grateful that the teachers and students took time to come out,” said Chiu. “South East High School came all the way from LA and spent an hour and a half on the bus to get to Irvine. The day was a huge success, both the students and volunteers all had fun interacting with each other, and many students said they were excited to come back next year.”
Friday’s EngiTECH career fair, which is designed to help students network with recruiters and working engineers, was held on Zoom in two sessions. More than 200 students attended and 15 companies participated. The fair was organized into four areas – medical device, electrical/software, civil/construction, energy/mechanical/aerospace – with company representatives able to give opening presentations on their culture and values before breaking into one-to-one sessions with students.
Liu explained that although they could have held the event in person, they ultimately decided to do it virtually and found it beneficial for both students and company representatives. “Students were able to plan multiple 10-minute one-on-one sessions with company representatives and were able to meet them in an intimate setting with more time to get to know each other,” he said. “Overall, the event allowed for much more personal connections to be made, and I am expecting this format to remain for our future career fairs.”
The week concluded on Saturday with an event called LIFE Tank for first-year students involved in ESC’s professional development program. The students worked together in groups to create a marketable product that addressed a modern-day issue. The products were then presented to a panel of judges, and teams were assessed based on the quality of their presentation, business model and verbal presentation skills.
“The first-years did an amazing job,” said Liu. “All of their presentations blew me away in terms of the sheer quality of work they were able to produce prior to taking any upper division engineering courses. I am extremely proud of the hard work they put in.”
– Lori Brandt
