Colorado State Celebrates National Engineers Week with Outreach Activities, Student Competition and Open House

In celebration of National Engineers Week, Colorado State University is hosting a variety of informative, educational and entertaining events for the Front Range community Feb. 17-23. The week’s activities will highlight the fun and rewards of engineering and will include research lab tours, robotics and race car demonstrations, a snow sled competition and educational outreach to local schools.

"We are sponsoring a variety of activities to help educate our community about the vast contributions of engineers to society and about the world-class engineering teaching and research taking place at Colorado State," said Benita Phillips, director of the Women and Minorities in Engineering Program. "We’re placing a special emphasis on getting middle- and high-school students interested in the field and stressing the creativity and fun that a career in engineering can provide."

Following is a schedule of public and outreach events. All activities are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Monday, Feb. 18

  • Tours of the Engineering Research Center, 9 a.m.-12 noon.
    Located at the Foothills Campus, the center houses a hydraulics lab, wind tunnels, laser lab and other research facilities. The tour requires pre-registration, available online at www.engr.colostate.edu. Van transportation from the Moby Arena parking lot will be provided beginning at 8:45 a.m.
  • Tours of the Engines and Energy Conservation Laboratory, 9 a.m.-12 noon.
    Located in the old Fort Collins power plant at 430 N. College Ave., the lab designs and tests engines for the natural gas, automotive, snowmobile and other industries to provide increased efficiency and to decrease pollution.
  • Tours of the Colorado Bioprocessing Center, 9 a.m.-12 noon.
    Located in the Glover Building on the main campus, the center is a facility for research in biotechnology that boasts a full complement of bioprocess equipment for fermentation, cell culture and product recovery.

Wednesday, Feb. 20

  • Discover Engineering Broadcast, 9 a.m.-noon.
    This national telecast from Denver is designed to introduce junior high school students to engineering. A panel of professional engineers, including Colorado State faculty, will serve as panelists, discussing engineering education and professional opportunities. The telecast is not available to the general public.

Friday, Feb. 22

  • Outreach to local junior high schools, 7:50 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
    Engineering students and community engineers will visit Blevins, Boltz, Lesher, Cache La Poudre, Lincoln, Preston, Webber and Wellington junior high schools throughout the day to introduce children to engineering and provide interactive demonstrations. Outreach visits are for students only and not available to the public.

Saturday, Feb 23

  • Society of Women Engineer’s Snow Sled Design Contest, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
    Engineering students have worked with local grade school girls to design and build sleds, introducing them to the engineering process. On Saturday, sleds will be judged on design, appearance, speed and steering. The contest will take place at 11711 Rist Canyon Road in Bellvue, northwest of Fort Collins.
  • Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Projects/Open House, 9 a.m.-noon.
    Student projects will be displayed and engineering faculty and students will be on hand for demonstrations, to discuss engineering opportunities at Colorado State and to answer general questions. Projects include award-winning, human-powered vehicles, formula SAE race cars and robotic walking machines. The open lab will take place in the Engineering Building on the main campus.

For directions or additional information about any of the events, visit the Web at www.engr.colostate.edu or call (970) 491-4303.