Drexel University’s College of Engineering kicked off National Engineers Week on Monday, February 19, 2007 with the 13th Annual Egg Drop Competition held in the Great Court of Drexel’s Main Building. A total of 43 teams, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, participated in the contest, in which students create a device that prevents an egg from breaking when dropped from a great height. The Egg Drop participants’ goal is for their contraptions to carry a grade A large uncooked egg down a steel cable and into a barricade, without breaking the egg. This year, students used everything from a hot pink gorilla to a plush Mario the Drexel Dragon to keep their eggs from scrambling.
In the first round of the competition, the eggs have a great fall from the second floor of the Main Building. The survivors are then launched from the third floor to see which one will crack under the pressure.
            Matthew Thanakit (Electrical Engineering) and David Ho (Architectural Engineering) took home first prize by packing their egg in a cylindrical cushion of Styrofoam. Daniel Shay (Chemical Engineering) and Norman Jones (Civil Engineering) won second and third place respectively by securing their eggs in green Styrofoam shells.
The competition was featured on WPVI-TV (ABC-6) and WCAU-TV (NBC-10) on February 20, 2007. The WCAU-TV story was syndicated on 55 stations nationwide, including WMAQ-TV (NBC-Chicago), KUSA-TV (NBC-Denver) and WRC-TV (NBC-Washington, D.C.) and WOWT-TV (NBC-Omaha).