Geared up for engineering

Lindsay Sandham

E-week, or Engineering Week, is a long-standing tradition in all

fields and disciplines of engineering. UC Irvine’s Henry Samueli

School of Engineering students do not take this tradition lightly.

This year marked the 32nd celebration of E-week on campus. The

students of the Engineering Student Council, which encompasses the

five departments and three programs of study at UCI, organized daily

events -- including contests with cash prizes and free barbecues.

“It’s all just a good time,” said 21-year-old Andy Johnson, an

aerospace engineering major from Irvine. “They’re trying to motivate

people to get involved.”

John Stupar, an engineering lecturer at UCI, said E-week is about

celebrating the discipline.

“What we do is celebrate all of the uniqueness and intricacies of

engineering,” he said.

One of the events the Engineering Student Council planned was a

Rube Goldberg contest, in which contestants had to build a very

complex device to perform a simple task. This year, the task at hand

was feeding a fish.

Stupar said the Goldberg event is his favorite every year.

“Because it’s so unique,” he said. “The students have to be very

creative in designing a very complex system for performing a very

simple task.”

The Engineering Student Council also organized a career fair.

Several companies set up tents Wednesday to inform students about

opportunities after graduation.

“I came out here and passed out some resumes,” said Johnson, who

will be graduating in June. “It’s cool that all the companies come

out here and see us.”

Cynthia Mescher, 22, a mechanical engineering major from Laguna

Hills, said UCI’s engineering program offers a lot of opportunities.

“I’m working in the aerospace industry right now and what I found

is there are just so many things you can do,” she said. “I have an

internship for Parker Aerospace.”

Mescher gained her internship through connections she made at UCI.

“I found out that there’s so many different experiences you can

have and you can just set your own direction,” Mescher said.

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at

(714) 966-4625 or lindsay.sandham @latimes.com.