Upcoming contests for budding engineers promise plenty of action
| Published: 04/28/2004 |
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A number of contests for budding young engineers will be held this weekend – they’re full of brainwork and nail-biting drama...
Friday, April 30, MSOE and a number of other local colleges are hosting the first-ever National Rube Goldberg Machine-Building Contest Contest(tm)© for teens. High school teams from five states will compete in the event is named after the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and engineer who became famous for his cartoons of overly complicated machines designed to accomplish something simple. This year, the wacky machine task is to "select, mark and cast an election ballot." Friday morning, more than 50 Wisconsin teams will compete in the seventh annual Wisconsin Rube Goldberg Contest; winners will go on to compete against other states at nationals in the afternoon.
EVENT: First national Rube Goldberg (wacky machine) contest for teens
DATE: Friday, April 30, 2004
TIME: 8-10 a.m. Wisconsin Contest / 1:30-3:30 p.m. National Contest
LOCATION: State Fair Park
ORGANIZATIONS: Milwaukee Colleges of Engineering Partnership: UW-Milwaukee, MSOE, Marquette University, MATC and WCTC.
Also Friday, MSOE is hosting the ASCE Regional Concrete Canoe Competition for colleges at Little Muskego Lake. Colleges have worked within specific criteria to design, test and construct a canoe made of concrete – now it’s time to race them -- slalom/endurance and sprints. The races test the canoes as well as the physical stamina of the students. Sometimes the canoes move stealthily through the water, sometimes they sink, but it’s always a challenge! The Regional winners will go on to the 17th annual National Contest in Washington, D.C. this June. Last year, UW-Madison took a dramatic victory at nationals and MSOE came in 8th place on Philadelphia’s flooded Schuylkill River. The race is 30% of the competition – other factors include the design paper, the craft’s final appearance and durability.
EVENT: Regional Concrete Canoe Competition for Colleges
DATE: Friday, April 30, 2004
TIME: contest runs 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
LOCATION: Little Muskego Lake, Idle Isle Park
ORGANIZATION: American Society of Civil Engineers Student Chapters and Clubs
HOST: Milwaukee School of Engineering
Saturday, May 1, MSOE hosts the ASCE Regional Steel Bridge Competition for colleges at the Four Points Sheraton hotel. Teams design and build a 1-to-10 scale steel bridge as quickly as possible over a mock river valley. The bridge must be able to bear a certain amount of weight, deflection, length, height and aesthetic quality. Eight teams from Wisconsin, Illinois and Wisconsin (including UW-Madison, MSOE and Marquette) will compete. Two winning teams will go on to the 13th annual national competition at the Colorado School of Mines in May.
EVENT: 13th annual Regional Steel Bridge Competition for Colleges
DATE: Saturday, May 1, 2004
TIME: 9:30 a.m. MSOE competes (Session I 9:30-11:30 a.m. / Session II 12:30-3 p.m.)
LOCATION: Four Points Sheraton hotel; 4747 S. Howell Ave., Baton Rouge Ballroom
ORGANIZATION: American Society of Civil Engineers Student Chapters and Clubs
HOST: Milwaukee School of Engineering