Dayton Engineer

Congratulations to the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME) on winning Engineers Week 2017, the third year in a row and the 4th time in 5 years! Click here to go to the E-Week 2017 results.

Engineers Week 2017, held at the University of Dayton February 18-24, 2017, featured over 13 activities, many geared at bringing more awareness to KEEN’s (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) 3 C’s of Entrepreneurial Mindset:

• Curiosity: QUESTION WITH BOLDNESS. EXPLORE CONTRARIAN PERSPECTIVES.
• Connections: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. PLACE OLD IDEAS IN NEW CONTEXTS.
• Create Value: THINK OPPORTUNITY. MIND STAKEHOLDERS.

E-Week at the School of Engineering is for the entire University community — students, faculty, staff and their families — to celebrate engineering and have fun! It allows students the opportunity to have fun by incorporating what they’ve learned in the classroom in interesting, unconventional and entrepreneurially minded ways.

Sponsored by KEEN and the School of Engineering, the week’s activities were coordinated by the dean’s office staff and multiple engineering student organizations. Each year, a collaborative team works to develop an E-Week schedule that celebrates the unique contributions made by all engineering disciplines.

MAIN EVENTS: Hack for Impact, E-Week t-shirts and Why I Love UD Engineering, E-Week Community Challenge, Chad Pregracke, Keynote, and the Entrepreneurial Mindset Challenge.

Hack for Impact

On February 18 and 19, the Institute of Applied Creativity (IACT) at ArtStreet, Hanley Sustainability Institute, the Visioneering Center and KEEN, the Learning Teaching Center, and a team of collaborative partners collaborated on this special event. Their mission? To create a space where a group of students could develop combined solutions that would impact real-world sustainability issues outside of the classroom. Four teams competed with each team selecting their own unique challenge to overcome. Challenges included promoting green businesses, addressing food desert issues, jump-starting a city-wide solar network and impacting children’s lives through sustainability. Click here to see the full recap and winners.

E-Week T-Shirts and Why I Love UD Engineering

On Monday, February 20, students were treated to newly designed E-Week t-shirts, compliments of KEEN, simply by writing why they love UD engineering. In just under two hours, 700 shirts were distributed, and a lot of great feedback was gathered. The following are the top comments from students: 1. The professors are awesome 2. Tightknit community/I feel part of a family 3. The people are amazing/make lifelong friends 4. The professors care about student success 5. There are great opportunities with SoE 6. I am prepared for a career/the future 7. I love being challenged 8. The quality of education that I receive is excellent 9. I like problem solving and the freedom to think creatively 10. SoE ETHOS and Co-op programs make an impact.

E-Week Community Challenge

In partnership with KEEN and the Visioneering Center, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) led the effort to collaborate with six other student organizations to welcome engineers and non-engineers to work together on a variety of team-based activities such as Melt the Ice (ETHOS Club), Nerf Wars (Pi Tau Sigma), Paper Airplane (AIAA and Aero, Build, Fly Team), Recycled Puzzle Challenge (SHPE), Towering Rebounds (SASE), and What’s the Dirt? (ASCE). 2017 was the inaugural year for the Community Challenge with 127 students participating thanks, in part, to housing PATH points. The Challenge feedback was positive with students proclaiming that this event was “the most fun they’d ever had” at a PATH eligible event.

Chad Pregracke, Keynote

Over 500 students were lucky to hear an amazing and inspirational keynote by social entrepreneur, Chad Pregracke, founder and president of Living Lands & Waters. Over the last few decades, Pregracke’s efforts have helped direct the removal of nearly 9 million pounds of garbage from the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

During Mr. Pregracke’s energetic talk, he reminded students to lead with their passion rather than following it. He emphasized that real change is a very slow process and to expect hard work and difficulties along the way. Mr. Pregarcke’s talk demonstrated many aspects of an entrepreneurial mindset such as seeking opportunities to solve problems and staying persistent through a variety of failures and setbacks.

Pregracke’s work was the subject of Anderson Cooper’s CNN special “Rescuing the River.” U.S. President George W. Bush named him a national point of light and CNN named him hero of the year in 2013.

His talk was co-sponsored by KEEN, EMpwr, the Visioneering Center, The ETHOS Center, Rivers Institute and River Stewards. Prior to his keynote he met with students from The ETHOS Center and the River Stewards during a tour of the University’s one-of-a-kind Rivermobile.

Entrepreneurial Mindset Challenge

During E-Week and through March 2, students were invited to submit reflections about how they use their Entrepreneurial Mindset and the 3 C’s at the University. Demonstrating an entrepreneurial spirit and having the social and global awareness to learn, lead and serve is what University of Dayton students strive towards.

Other E-Week 2017 Events

Other events held during E-Week 2017 included: NSEB Jr. “Amazing Race” (NSBE), Jeopardy (AIChE), Calculator Toss (Phi Sigma Rho), Duct Tape a Professor to a Wall (ASME), Can Stacking Competition (Omega Chi Epsilon's (OXE) can stacking competition and food drive resulted in a donation of 170 lbs of food to the Dayton Foodbank.), Smash Bros. Tournament (IEEE) and Penny Wars (Tau Beta Pi) which raised over $300 for a local charity.

Click here for E-Week 2017 final results.

—Heather Juhascik and Karen Updyke, School of Engineering