By Peter McKellar
Hoping to dispel misconceptions about BYU''s engineering program, the Engineering and Technology Student Council is sponsoring a week of booths and activities designed to highlight the diversity of the engineering program at BYU.
'We want to increase the community''s awareness about engineering in today''s society,' said Brian Bartholomew, 24, a senior from Raleigh, N.C., majoring in mechanical engineering. Bartholomew serves as president of Engineering and Technology Student Council.
Nearly two dozen booths set up by clubs, societies, professors and local high-tech companies will be in the Garden Court of the Wilkinson Student Center through Friday, Feb. 23.
'A lot of people don''t understand (the engineering major),' said Bob Harger, 28, a senior from Maple Shade, N.J., majoring in manufacturing engineering technology. 'When they think of manufacturing they think of a big, dirty, nasty plant. That is not the case.'
Harger, who is helping to manage a booth sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, said there is a wide range of careers that engineering technology graduates can go into.
Chris Hartley, 26, a senior from Heber City, Utah, majoring in manufacturing engineering technology agreed. He said that graduates from the engineering program could expect to be hired to build anything from airplanes for Boeing to microchips for Intel.
'It''s not the product, but the process,' Hartley said.
Several events spaced throughout the week are designed to highlight this diversity.
Following the bridge-building contest on Wednesday, Feb. 21, an airplane competition was housed in the Crabtree Technology Building at 2 p.m. A contest for the most edible engineering projects is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 22, at noon in the Garden Court.
Other activities planned for Feb. 22 include a calculator toss at 2 p.m. in the Quad in front of the Clyde Engineering Building and a pinewood derby at 11 a.m. in the Garden Court.
The week concludes Friday, Feb. 23, with an evening banquet where awards for outstanding engineering teachers will be handed out.
The event is designed to coincide with National Engineers Week, which was founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers.