Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science has dubbed February ‘E-Month,’ and is gearing up for a full slate of activities designed to raise awareness about engineers and their contributions to society.

‘Engineers and computer scientists make the world go ’round,’ said Eric Spina, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Spina hopes the month will give the public a better understanding of the work that engineers and computer scientists perform, as well as give current students an opportunity to network with alumni and professionals.

The month’s activities, which culminate with National Engineers Week at the end of February, include speeches by some of the school’s alumni and events highlighting recent engineering breakthroughs, such as the recently completed Big Dig highway project in Boston and NASA’s Mars Spirit Rover.

But not all of the activities will be so serious. Student engineering groups are teaming up to organize a series of more lighthearted Olympic-style activities. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers will set up a bridge-building competition, challenging students to build the structures from dried pasta, said Venno Jelinek, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and president of ASME, who is helping to organize the event. The bridge-building contest will not only give students the opportunity to apply the skills they’ve learned in class, but to take a break from their studies, since the school’s rigorous course work often leave aspiring engineers with time for little else, Jelinek said.

‘It’s just an all out great time so that the engineers can actually have a life,’ he said.

Other events in the ‘engineer Olympics’ include a tug-of-war competition organized by the Theta Tau, the professional engineering fraternity, said Kimball Sanders, a senior computer engineering major. Students can field teams of up to 12 people, with one stipulation: Each team must include at least two members of the opposite sex. This requirement can be difficult to meet, since the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the engineering field in general are dominated by men, Jelinek said.

Published on January 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm