PhD student Nicholas Olmedo explains a robotic vehicle he and his fellow students are building, to visitors at Engineering Expo. Hundreds of alumni and members of the public toured the UAlberta Faculty of Engineering for the annual open-house style event.
(Edmonton) It seemed like the busiest day ever at the Faculty of Engineering as alumni returned to campus for their annual reunion and members of the public converged for the fourth annual Engineering Expo.
The Expo is an open-house style event which is open to anyone interested in engineering-the Faculty of Engineering basically flings open its doors, giving members of the public a chance to learn what engineering's about and to discover the leading-edge research being conducted by engineering professors.
Some attendees, such as the parents of first-year engineering students, are specifically invited. One parent, Shannon Imhoff, drove from her home in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, to visit with her daughter Shaylene, a first-year engineering student.
Shannon says being able to tour research labs and interact with students and professors from different engineering disciplines was an eye-opener.
"It was interesting to see all the engineering departments," she said. "I didn't know how many kinds of engineering there are-my daughter has a lot of options."
For her part, Shaylene says being able to meet with members of engineering student clubs and teams was exciting.
"The whole event helped me understand a little more about engineering and what it is," she said. "Especially civil engineering. There's a lot more to it-a ridiculous amount more to it-than I thought."
A very varied profession
"When you think of engineering you think of building bridges or buildings," said Canh Phan, whose son Steven is considering studying engineering. "But by coming to Engineering Expo you find out that engineers can do a lot of thing-including medical engineering."
Steven and his mother attended a free talk by electrical engineering professor Jie Chen, who explained his research to design and build a hand-held medical diagnostic device similar to the tricorder imagined in the science fiction of Star Trek.
"Dr. Chen came to my high school about a year ago and gave a talk about the same kind of research-it was really interesting," said Steven, who is in Grade 12 at Old Scona high school.
Chen was busy after his talk answering questions from high school students interested in studying engineering and asking for information about opportunities for summer research placements-which he and many other engineering professors accept.
Earlier in the day, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering professors Anastasia Elias and Dominic Sauvageau delivered a talk on their research, aimed at developing smart materials for food safety.
Volunteering for the Expo event was a rewarding experience, according to PhD student Nicholas Olmedo. He spent the day showing off a robotic vehicle used to test oil sands mining waste. Olmedo and his fellow graduate students designed and built the vehicle under the supervision of mechanical engineering professor Mike Lipsett.
"It's been a really good day," said Olmedo. "Explaining my project to members of the public and high school students is a lot different than talking about it to professors. It really helps you examine what you've learned and how you applied the things you've learned in your courses to your work."
Olmedo isn't sure he or the hundreds of other Expo volunteers inspired young people to study engineering-the fact that they attended the event indicates they're already curious about engineering.
"A lot of the high school kids I talked to are already considering engineering but for them, the biggest question is what kind of engineering they want to do," he said.
"I tried to talk a little about all the different kinds of engineering so that they're a little better informed."
For information on the U of A engineering program visit our Prospective Students website.