Drexel's College of Engineering Celebrates 6th Annual Engineers Week

Drexel University’s College of Engineering hosted the 6th Annual Engineers week February 18-22, 2008 to celebrate the contributions of engineers nationwide, CoE’s Engineers Week was sponsored by Lockheed Martin and MDC Systems and it was held in conjunction with National Engineers Week, a formal coalition of more than 75 engineering, professional, and technical societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies.

The kickoff for Engineers Week began with the 14th Annual Egg Drop Competition which was redesigned for the first time in 14 years. Students, faculty, and staff created contraptions for the competition to protect a Grade A large egg from the impact of a 28 foot drop. Competitors battled to protect their egg with the creation of unique devices that included parachutes made from plastic bags and Styrofoam boxes that acted as carriers for the eggs. Over 300 spectators and participants attended the competition. The Egg Drop Competition was featured on KYW-TV (CBS-3), WCAU-TV (NBC-10), WPVI-TV (ABC-6) and KYW-AM (1060) newscasts on February 18-19. Other events throughout the week included a High School Day for over 200 Philadelphia area high school students. Students were trained on how to make slime, foam, liquid nitrogen ice cream and cars from K’Nex.

Over 350 students were honored in CoE for their accomplishments at the Honors Day Ceremony on February 20. Additionally, a career fair was co-hosted with the Steinbright Career Development Center on February 21. The career fair brought together over 90 employers and more than 600 students. To culminate the week, a lecture was delivered by Dr. Bernard Amadei, 2008 Engineer of the Year and founder of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Amadei spoke on the importance of engineering with heart and compassion in his lecture titled “Engineering Innovation and Research with a Human Face.” Following the lecture, a dinner was held in honor of Amadei at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia. Over 300 students, faculty, staff, alumni and industry leaders celebrated Amadei’s contributions to engineering and engineers nationwide.

Engineers Week at Drexel University attracted more than 3,000 people, including Drexel students, faculty and staff, alumni, industry partners, high school and grade school teachers and students, and prospective Drexel students. Please view our Engineers Week website for more photos and a schedule of the week's events.