Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Demonstrations with names such as Lego Mindstorms, Slime Pit, and Microwaves: Don't Try This at Home, might cause people to react with caution, but the master minds behind these events are UWP students who are excited to share their knowledge of science with others. On March 30, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville hosted the 35th annual Engineering EXPO. During this one-day event, UWP students from the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science shared demonstrations and programs about activities in their major area of study. Participating departments included: engineering physics and chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and civil, software, environmental, industrial, mechanical and electrical engineering departments on the UWP campus.

Each year, the Engineering EXPO is held with hopes of inspiring the love of science in regional high school and middle school students. The event also gives UWP students the opportunity to display projects and demonstrations that they have been working on during the past academic year. Students cheered for success as they participated in the egg-crash test hosted by the Society of Women Engineers, SWE. Participating students were given a small wooden cart and several other materials including: three nails, several rubber bands, Kleenex tissue, one plastic sandwich bag, a balloon, a piece of string and tape. With these materials, SWE students helped participants safely secure an egg so that it would be able to survive several different crash tests. SWE students encouraged the participants to go through the engineering process of brainstorming, building and rebuilding their invention to make it the best possible egg-cart. Completed carts were run down different ramps at varying inclinations. At the bottom of each ramp, carts collided with cinder blocks. After the eggs broke, SWE members encouraged students to continually redesign their carts with hopes of making them more secure for the next trial run.

Leah Schill, a UWP senior and the activities coordinator for SWE, commented, "It is really rewarding to see younger students excited about engineering and the engineering process. SWE strives to encourage young girls to get involved in engineering. It is our hope that they will be successful here and realize that engineering is fun. It is important to show females that they can do engineering too!"

High school students were especially interested in the Rail Gun demonstration prepared by the UWP Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers Rail Gun project team. Intrigued students were taught how a rail gun works and the engineering process that was behind the project. Team members emphasized to students that technology and engineering is a fun career field. One of the team members, David Dochterman, a junior at UWP, stated, "This demonstration is a way to bring students into a very interesting and growing industry. We show students how math can be fun, but we also share how much work goes behind a successful project such as this. Any student has the ability to succeed in engineering as long as they have the motivation to succeed."

Other events included a robot demonstration by the F.I.R.S.T Robotics Team and a hands-on experiment by the Concrete Canoe Team about the materials used to create the concrete. For more information about the Engineering EXPO, please contact Phil Sealy at (608) 342-1455 or sealy@uwplatt.edu

Contact: Phil Sealy, UWP Department of Electrical Engineering, (608) 342-1455, sealy@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Lauren Lehr, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, lehrl@uwplatt.edu