ECE Week organizers Britanny Lamorie (computer), Raiden Chehade (electrical), Mike Bardwell (engineering physics), Jessica Prie (computer), Arjun Kalburgi (computer), Ian Precott (electrical and Ryan Boehnke (engineering physics).
(Edmonton) A group of students is working hard to create career opportunities during a week of events focusing on electrical and computer engineering and engineering physics.
Running until Jan. 31, ECE Week events are connecting students in electrical engineering, computer engineering and engineering physics with industry representatives through a series of TED-style Tech Talks, a social mixer, and a 24-hour hackathon being run in conjunction with Startup Edmonton.
"The reason ECE Week was started, last year, was to promote ECE jobs in the community and internationally," said Computer Engineering Club President Brittany Lamorie, who is her final year of studies.
As computer engineering market is booming, demand for creative professionals remains high. "These days we look pretty good," Lamorie says, adding that ECE students wanted to build on exposure they get to industry through the annual ESS Career Fair.
Lamorie says one of the reasons she chose to study computer engineering is the fact that it gives graduates a set of in-demand careers skills that can be used in any industry. The mix of companies taking part in ECE Week supports that. This year, more than a dozen companies from local high-tech startups like Jobber to computer giants like Google, and resource companies such as Shell and Schlumberger are taking part in ECE Week events.
The week features three evenings of Tech Talks in which researchers and companies-Google, Panda Rose, Jobber, Intuit, Pentair, and Zayfti, just to name a few-will review an aspect of technology they use every day. This will be followed by a Student-Industry Mixer, a fun mingling event with icebreaker games and prizes, on Friday. Students, along with the Department staff, will meet with more than a dozen businesses in electrical and computer engineering.
ECE week wraps up with the second annual HackEd Hackathon, a 24-hour competition among students from Edmonton post-secondary schools-and even some high school students. The idea is for student teams to build creative and fun computer projects. Using any kind of software and hardware, each team will develop an original idea into an innovative project. A panel of faculty members and industry representatives will evaluate and judge entries. This year, Lamorie expects 60 students coming from various schools and diverse backgrounds to participate. The organizing committee offers $1,500 in prizes for the best projects.
For more information and to register for events check out the ECE Week website.