News Article

Students in Gonzaga University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science are celebrating National Engineers Week this week with a host of campus events, including a trebuchet (treb′ y shet′) competition at noon Saturday (Feb. 23) in which a catapult is used to hurl one-gallon plastic milk jugs filled with water. The week’s events run from Wednesday (Feb. 20) through Sunday (Feb. 24) and all are free and open to the public.
On Wednesday (Feb. 20), the GU Center for Engineering Design will host Senior Design Project presentations from 2-5 p.m. at the following locations:

Civil Engineering Presentations ~ Foley Teleconference Center.

• Mechanical Engineering Presentations ~ Jepson Center Room 120 and Hughes Hall Room 130.
• Electrical and Computer Engineering Presentations ~ Schoenberg Conference Center, Room 202.
• Computer Science Presentations ~ Herak Center, Room 303 (3-5 p.m.).

On Saturday (Feb. 23), the American Society of Civil Engineers will host an Open House at 7 p.m., in the Student Project Lab (in Herak Center). Visitors may view and discuss the concrete canoe built for both a Senior Design project and for use in the ASCE Regional Competition. At noon Saturday, Gonzaga’s chapters of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers will host the trebuchet (treb′ y shet′) competition and barbecue.

Student organizers say the one-gallon plastic milk jugs filled with water are ideal for trebuchet (treb′ y shet′) because they pop easily on impact and clean up in a jiffy. The jugs will be launched from the bottom of the stairs between the Herak Center and the old soccer field. “The vector of our launch will run from west to east across the groundwork currently taking place on the soccer field,” said student David Shamrell. The students have received clearance from Garco Construction to launch the jugs into the construction site, but no one will be allowed to cross the fence line into the site.

On Sunday (Feb. 24), the week wraps up with a session on “Analytical Problem Solving: Engineering Futures” — which one insider described as “Jeopardy” for engineers — from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Foley Teleconference Center, sponsored by Gonzaga’s chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. In addition, Tau Beta Pi will host an alumni speech featuring Willy Geary and Nick Questad, both of The Boeing Company, from 7-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 4, in the Foley Teleconference Center.

For more information, contact Sonja Steele in the Gonzaga School of Engineering and Applied Science at (509) 323-3523 or via e-mail. For more information about the trebuchet competition, contact Peter Tormey at (509) 323-6132 or via e-mail.  
To learn more about National Engineers Week, visit the following Web site.