UD engineering students pitted paper airplanes against Nerf gun attacks in honor of National Engineers Week, among other activities.

'Celebrate Awesome'

Engineering students celebrate National Engineers Week with fun activities

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3:56 p.m., Feb. 27, 2013--What happens when you combine Nerf guns, paper airplanes and a bunch of engineers?

Epic battle.

Campus Stories

From graduates, faculty

As it neared time for the processional to open the University of Delaware Commencement ceremonies, graduating students and faculty members shared their feelings about what the event means to them.

Doctoral hooding

It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green.

In celebration of National Engineers Week (EWeek) 2013, University of Delaware engineering students showcased their aerospace engineering skills during a paper airplane competition atop McKinley Laboratory. The mission: craft an airplane that can hit a target, travel the farthest distance and survive Nerf gun attacks.

The most unique was a short cylindrical model that traveled smoothly several feet when spun into the air.

According to Tom Cender, president of the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Association, which organized the event, opportunities like this allow engineering students to get out of the lab and connect with their peers. 

“Finding fun in the most basic engineering challenges brings us all closer, despite our different academic backgrounds,” Cender added. 

This year’s theme, “Celebrate Awesome,” encouraged engineers, engineering students, technicians and others to reflect on the wonderful things they accomplish daily to make the world a better place.

“In order to solve today’s most important challenges, engineers must increasingly work across discipline-specific boundaries. This all begins with doing our part to contribute to a science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM-rich community — locally, nationally and globally. At UD, this naturally starts with training and engaging the next generation of great minds — our students,” Babatunde Ogunnaike, interim dean of the College of Engineering, said.

Among the other student activities demonstrating engineering spirit on campus were dodge ball and Texas hold’em tournaments, an EWeek carnival, and a broomball match. An induction ceremony into the Order of the Engineer Ring for graduating seniors, among other networking and banquet events, rounded out the student events, while the UD K-12 Engineering program TEAMS competition, which included approximately 50 students from three area high schools, reached potential future engineers. 

Article and video by Sarah E. Meadows

Photos by Evan Krape

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