Engineering students have a reason to celebrate Thursday.
Thursday is Engineer’s Day, and engineering classes are dismissed in honor of the event.
The event will host high school students from across Tennessee to view exhibits and projects on display by University of Tennessee students and other engineering organizations.
“Various engineering student organizations set up exhibits and displays of different disciplines. Some of them are interactive, some of them are just to look at,” Craig Cook, publications coordinator for the College of Engineering, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“It gives them the opportunity to interact with current students and learn about the kinds of things they do as an engineer,” he said.
Masood Parang, associate dean for Student Affairs in the College of Engineering, said the event is a good opportunity for UT students to interact with high schoolers.
“Engineer’s Day is when all our departments get a chance to have their students put on exhibits, projects that they work on for high school students,” he said.
The event is also an opportunity for UT to gain some skilled students, Parang said.
“(Engineer’s Day) basically has two purposes: an introduction to engineering and the principles of engineering. The second is to attract good students to the college,” he said.
Parang said the college expects as many as 750 high school students from more than 30 high schools.
“Practically all Tennessee high school students come and participate for the day to look at the exhibits,” he said.
The event will also feature two competitions, the Quiz Bowl and the ASCE High School Balsa Wood Bridge Competition.
“(Students) participate in a quiz bowl, which is a contest. It’s generally for getting to know engineering and the College of Engineering students,” Parang said.
Winners of the two competitions from 2004 include students from Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville for the Quiz Bowl and students from Science Hill High School in Johnson City for the bridge-building contest.
Another sponsor of the event is Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honors society.
“We hope to introduce them to engineering and what opportunities exist both academically and professionally and what opportunities exist at The University of Tennessee,” said Mark Shirley, Engineer’s Day chair for Tau Beta Pi.
“A lot of times it can be a good introduction, the first experience with engineering high school students can have,” he said. “It really allows them to get a good idea of what goes on in engineering and what it’s about.”
