The Cal Poly Engineering Student Council is celebrating National Engineers Week with several activities open to the public.
The event kicks off today with an opening ceremony with Cal Poly’s improv troupe, Smile & Nod, and a Wii tournament with free hot dogs tonight. Other events during the week include a presentation by Lockheed Martin, a boat race challenge and a Miss Engineer contest.
Lockheed Martin, a Maryland-based advanced technology firm, will host “Engineering Issues,” a forum about the technology used to train the next generation of pilots. The presentation will include a look at the challenges faced by the enhancing of virtual reality such as flight simulators.
The Society of Women Engineers members said they want to show that women in engineering can be fun by showcasing their Miss Engineer contest, a fashion show open to all women in engineering. Contestants will be split up into teams; the first, second and third place winners will win a trophy and a Firestone gift card. The first place winners also win a tiara and a sash. Three faculty members will judge the best fashion in business casual, evening wear and “nerd wear.”
“I think it’s just a good opportunity for people to have fun with it and embrace their engineering background as well,” said Nadia Shraibati, biomedical engineering senior and vice president of university relations for the Society of Women Engineers.
While the majority of the events will be targeted toward engineering students, other majors are welcome to attend and participate. Dylan Pavelko, electrical engineering junior and president of the council, said even if other majors don’t attend the activities, they should still take an interest because engineers are a huge aspect of society.
“Engineers are the people who are creating the future, and it’s a good opportunity to learn more about engineering,” Pavelko said. “It’s all one big world that we’re living in.”
In addition to events for Cal Poly students, the council has also planned an outreach activity where they will go to different elementary schools in San Luis Obispo County. Kendra Rowley, civil engineering senior and vice president of outreach for the Society of Women Engineers, said the goal of the outreach activity is to expose kids to engineering.
“It doesn’t mean that they have to choose it as a career path but just that they know that it’s available and viable to both females and males,” Rowley said. “We’re just trying to reach out to the kids in the county and show them that engineering can be fun.”
The volunteers want to show younger students that struggling in a subject doesn’t mean that certain career paths are out of the question, she said.
Shraibati said she wants younger kids to realize that learning can be fun, but hard work is needed.
“What I would want most for students to realize, especially the little girls in the class, is that there are a lot of opportunities out there and engineering is just one opportunity,” Shraibati said. “Just because you might be having a tough time with math or science now shouldn’t restrict you to becoming an engineer in the future.”
The activities are free and attendants can register to win prizes. At each event, students can pick up a passport with a bar code that will be scanned. Students who register their passport online or at the event are automatically entered to win a Netbook, gift cards or a television.
Pavelko said that the council is expecting between 200 and 500 people per event.
“It should be a lot of fun and we’re all really excited to see everyone celebrating engineering,” Pavelko said.
The week’s schedule can be found at http://esc.calpoly.edu/eweek/.