Engineering Week kicked off Monday with the McCormick Student Advisory Board handing out “island adventure” themed shirts, smoothies, stickers and goodie bags to around 400 students on Tech Plaza.
McCormick junior and MSAB Co-President Marilene van den Berg said the annual E-Week has aimed to highlight the achievements of McCormick students and organizations while building community within the school for more than a decade.
“It’s really just a week where a bunch of engineering groups come together (and) put on events to celebrate engineers,” van den Berg said. “McCormick can be hard so we want to try to make it fun.”
She said there are opportunities for clubs to collaborate during the week, such as the Spring Olympics co-hosted by the Society of Women Engineers, Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers.
There are around 20 events this year and more than 16 student groups involved, van den Berg added.
“I think what’s most exciting every year is the student groups showcase that we hold,” she said. “It’s fun to be able to show off what everyone’s been doing, and have the chance to not just show it to your own group members, but to everyone else in McCormick as well.”
McCormick junior and MSAB Co-President Jimmy Oñate said E-Week provides many professional development and social engagement opportunities.
Oñate said there will be a panel on “how to succeed in an internship” by MSAB and Engineering Career Development. SWE will also host a HeForSWE imposter syndrome workshop.
“E-week is a perfect event for (engineering students) to really show what they’re doing in their club,” Oñate said. “We just want to get their work out there. So our main goal is just to have as much awareness of our groups.”
McCormick sophomore and MatSci Club Co-President Emma Sellin said MSAB was very responsive and helpful in the planning of E-Week.
The MatSci Club hosted a “dryce cream” social where students made ice cream using dry ice, cream and sugar.
“(The ice cream) turns out a little bit different because of the carbonation from the dry ice, how it releases CO2 and creates a fizzy ice cream,” Sellin said. “It’s just a really fun way to connect with other material science majors and also other engineering majors.”
Other events throughout the week include Theme Park Engineering and Design Group’s escape room, Women in Computing’s cake decorating, NU Robotics’ jeopardy for engineers and Engineers for a Sustainable World’s DIY hydroponics systems.
First-year chemical engineering graduate student Isha Sura said she is looking forward to her first E-Week at NU, especially the snacks and puppies event Friday afternoon.
“Having all the social events and meeting other people that are also in the program is really nice so it’s really cool that (MSAB) is putting this on,” Sura said.
Looking ahead, van den Berg and Oñate said they hope E-Week will return to its pre-pandemic attendance levels.
Van den Berg added that she wants to increase awareness about E-Week, especially among McCormick students.
“We encourage everyone to go (to E-Week) even if you’re not an engineer to see what our students are doing throughout the year,” Oñate said.
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