"Engineers at the Mall" to be held this weekend

By Joe Johnson
The Collegian

The College of Engineering will cap off National Engineers Week this weekend with “Engineers at the Mall,” a public showcase of projects, inventions, proof-of-concepts and a display of what it means to be an engineer.

“It is an excellent event for the college to reach out into the community,” Andrew Hoff, the college of engineering interim dean, said.

“Prospective students can learn about engineering as a career path and that’s really the key reason we have this event — we want to inform the public and maybe even recruit them.”

The event will be at the Fashion Fair Mall this weekend with a variety of exhibits to inform and entertain interested passers-by.

This year, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers will showcase the “Bulldog Bot,” an autonomous robot that is designed to transport people across campus. Built with a wheelchair as a starting point, the robot uses a GPS and sonar system to move people across campus while avoiding pedestrians and obstacles that might otherwise get in the way.

In the past, IEEE has used the event to demonstrate a wireless steering wheel, laser telephone systems and infrared robotic mice that can navigate through a maze without guidance.

“[The American Society of Mechanical Engineers] is going to have a Formula One racecar that we built here on campus,” ASME President Ashraf Qader said. “Everything was constructed here, from the chassis to the fiberglass body. The engine was built by Honda, but we modified it pretty heavily.”

Many other projects will also be on display, created by the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Engineers, Students in Construction and Surveyors and Geomatics Engineers.
“I’ve been active in projects like these since my freshman year,” Qader said. “What’s great is that the projects are always mixed up with the juniors and seniors. You are never left out until later years.”

But the event isn’t just about showing off clever gadgets.

National Engineers Week has been celebrated for more than 50 years, bringing people a little bit more information about what engineers do and how they can make an impact on society.

“The goal of National Engineers Week is to expose and educate the community as to what engineering is all about,” Engineering Pathways Program head Hernon Maldonado said. “We can expose people to some concrete projects and different disciplines of engineering, so they know that opportunities and careers are out there.”

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