SOUTHFIELD — Michigan’s engineering community is getting ready to celebrate National Engineers Week Feb. 22-28.
National Engineers Week is the nationwide effort to celebrate how engineers make a difference in our world, increase public dialogue about the need for engineers, and bring engineering to life for kids, educators, and parents.
Michigan’s engineering schools and organizations are planning the following events for National Engineers Week. To add your organization’s event to this calendar, e-mail Matt Roush, ESD’s Director of Communications and Public Relations, at mroush@esd.org.
Saturday, Feb. 21
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Michigan Tech 2015 Winter Baja Competition, noon to 4 p.m., Adjacent to the Student Development Center, Presented by Michigan Tech Winter Baja SAE Enterprise. An informal but competitive Winter Baja race held on a motocross-style track made of snow, including two 90-minute endurance races as well as a dynamic event. Sixteen universities will compete, many with multiple vehicles. Open to the public.
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Girls & Engineering: Exploration Day for Students Grades 7-12 and their Parents, 9:30 a.m to 1 p.m., 202 Great Lakes Research Center. Presented by the Western UP Center for Science & Environmental Outreach. Sponsored by the College of Engineering, Department of Engineering Fundamentals, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Society of Women Engineers. Middle and high school girls and their parents have been invited to campus to find out what engineering is all about. They will be trying some fun hands-on activities led by women engineering students and discovering how engineers make a difference, why engineering is a great career choice and why these young women chose engineering.
Sunday, Feb. 22
* Kettering University, Flint. Society of Women Engineers Expo pre-college event for high school girls, hosted by Society of Women Engineers student chapter. Also being held Saturday, Feb. 21.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: MSU Student Engineering Council event at Impression 5 science museum, Lansing, noon to 4:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 23
* Kettering University, Flint. Lunch & Keynote Speaker Dr Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Celebrate Engineering Luncheon, hosted by Student Engineering Council, Engineering Building lobby, noon until pizza is gone
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Hydrocyclone Demo plus home copper plating 3 to 4 p.m., Chem Sci 201. Presented by the Department of Chemical Engineering. Assistant Professor Tim Eisele will demonstrate the making of a beautiful hydrocyclone, then show how you can use your USB cord to electroplate copper in your own home!
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Student Professional Awareness Conference, 5:30 to 7 p.m., Engineering Building Room 1145, hosted by IEEE.
Tuesday, Feb. 24
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Get WISE (an event for middle school girls), 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Wood Gym, Student Development Center. Presented by The Center for Pre-College Outreach and the Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education. In this annual workshop and lunch, 250 seventh and eighth grade girls will tackle science and engineering challenges, meet female role models from Michigan Tech, learn physics concepts and explore their interest in science and engineering. The goal is to inspire more young women to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: EWeek Cake, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 112B Dillman Hall. Presented by the Department of Engineering Fundamentals. Chocolate and yellow cake frosted in Michigan Tech colors. Open to all.
* Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo: open house for high school students at WMU’s Parkview Campus engineering complex, 4 p.m.; social hour at WMU Fetzer Center, 5 p.m.; dinner at WMU Fetzer Center (ticket required); presentation, “Achieving Excellence in Engineering Through Testing and Evaluation” by Dr. Joe Stufflebeam at WMU Fetzer Center, 7:30 p.m. More information at www.wmich.edu/engineer/eweek.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: A Taste of Engineering, O Night, 6 to 9 p.m., hosted by Student Engineering Council and the MSU Cornerstone and Residential Experience, Wonders Hall Cafeteria
* 38th Annual American Society of Civil Engineers Student Night at Wayne State University, McGregor Memorial Conference enter, 495 Gilmour Mall, Detroit; 5 p.m. reception and exhibits, 6:45 p.m. dinner, 7:30 p.m. Committee on Younger Members Resume Raffle, student scholarship award, 7:45 p.m., Engineering Jeopardy. Immediately following, approximately 9 p.m., CYM meeting at Traffic Jam & Smug, 511 W. Canfield, Detroit. Questions? Contact Lia Michaels at (248) 454-6812 or lmichaels@hrc-engr.com. $30 for members, $10 for students, $150 for exhibit and one dinner ticket.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Halo Video Game Tournament, registration begins at 7:30 p.m., Engineering Building Room 2400, hosted by Tau Beta Phi, sponsored by Microsoft
* Kettering University, Flint. Lunch: “Engineering the future of Kettering” Kettering President Dr. Robert McMahan introduces the new campus Master Plan to students. Evening, movie, “Tim’s Vermeer.”
*Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Michigan Tech’s Center for Pre-College Outreach will co-host a day-long workshop on Feb. 24 for 7th and 8th grade girls. During the event, the girls will engage in three to four science and engineering challenges, meet female role models from Michigan Tech programs and learn physics concepts. The goal is to inspire more young women to pursue careers in STEM.
* DTE Energy Engineering Forum: Engineering organizations at DTE Energy will hold the second annual DTE Energy Engineering Forum from 9 a.m. to noon, Feb. 24. The forum will recognize teams and individuals from each of the operating engineering organizations (Gas, Nuclear, Fossil Generation, Distribution Operations, and Major Enterprise Projects) with awards for engineering excellence. The awards recognize excellence in project or process improvement; development or use of technology, improved safety, process improvement, or reduced cost; automation of a system; system improvement resulting in increased efficiency or reduced cost; project or outage management; the sharing and growth of knowledge, well documented projects and process as well as the development of other engineers; and applied Electric Power Research Institute projects or process improvement. Those individuals or teams being recognized will give a short presentation on their project or process improvement.
Wednesday, Feb. 25
* Kettering University, Flint, Innovation Competition
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: Hovercraft Build and Race, noon to 3 p.m., Fisher Hall Room 101. Presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Come build your very own balloon-powered hovercraft. Try to be the fastest one down the track, and you could win. Materials will be supplied. Winners will be notified via email the following day.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Resume Pit, 2 to 5 p.m., Engineering Building Lobby, hosted by MSU Student Engineering Council
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Evening With Industry Banquet, 6 to 8:30 p.m., East Lansing Marriott at University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave., East Lansing, hosted by the Society of Women Engineers, sponsored by MSU DPO and Women in Engineering
Thursday, Feb. 26
* Kettering University, Flint: Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Distinguished Faculty Speaker: Janet Fornari, professor of Mechanical Engineering
* Michigan Technological University, Houghton: The Society of Women Engineers at Michigan Tech is sponsoring an Engineering Word Clouds event from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 26. Faculty and students will be invited to write down words related to engineering, from which colorful word clouds will be generated. The SWE plans to fill two or three poster frames with the word clouds and hang them around campus. They will also produce a PowerPoint of them for professors to show in class.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: More than 125 companies will be in the College of Engineering Building to get to know MSU’s engineering and computer science talent during Engineering Expo from 2 to 5 p.m. Students are encouraged to learn about companies, talk with alumni and professionals working in engineering jobs, and get an inside track on an engineering career path. The event is coordinated by The Center for Spartan Engineering. See the extensive list of companies attending the Engineering Expo at https://msu-csm.symplicity.com/events/students.php?mode=list&cf=Expo15
Friday, Feb. 27
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering Symposium Day, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Brody Hall.
Saturday, Feb. 28
* American Council of Engineering Companies of Michigan 2015 Engineering & Surveying Excellence Winners Awards Gala, 6:30 to 11 p.m., Henry Ford Museum, 20900 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn. More at this link.
* Kettering University, Flint. Engineers Without Borders Service Project
Girls Engineering Exploration: The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Detroit Section is holding its annual Girls Engineering Exploration (GEE) Feb. 28 at Wayne State University. The event provides girls in grades 4-6 from Detroit Public Schools with a chance to explore the world of engineering as a potential career. DTE Energy is a Gold Sponsor of the event. DTE members of SWE are planning to stage a “Picture Yourself as an Engineer” interactive fashion show during lunch. The show will feature the latest in Personal Protective Equipment used in various parts of the company.The purpose of GEE is to engage potential future engineers with activities that will allow them to explore engineering. SWE created this experience for elementary school girls to have an opportunity to meet women engineers and hear first-hand about their exciting career paths. These women will give interactive demonstrations and the girls will be able to experience the creativity and innovation that goes on in the field of engineering. The girls will complete four different hands-on activities to expose them to a variety of engineering disciplines and experience how fun a career in this field can be.
* Michigan State University, East Lansing: Broomball Tournament, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, sponsored by American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Throughout the week and beyond
DTE Energy engineers from various business units will be visiting a number of schools in communities served by DTE to talk to students of all ages about the engineering profession and have appropriate hands-on demonstrations for the students to be able to visualize what an engineer does at work. These will begin during National Engineers Week and will continue through the month of April. Last year, DTE Engineers visited about 30 classrooms, reaching more than 800 students in the Detroit area and Monroe County schools.