As part of the National Engineers Week celebrations in Anchorage, the UAA College of Engineering and the E-Week Planning Committee hosted the 2023 E-Week Student Competitions on Feb. 18 at the UAA Engineering and Industry Building.

The Student Competitions are a core E-Week tradition, each year bringing together hundreds of families and young people to participate in fun and challenging carnival-like games with an engineering theme. This year’s event saw over 180 participants, from kindergarten to high school, come to campus to design, build and test the tallest tower, most buoyant boat, strongest bridge and more. In doing so, they learned more about UAA and the engineering design process. A special thanks goes out to the over 25 volunteers who helped make the event such a resounding success. 

“The goal of the E-Week Student Competitions is to keep the flame of inspiration and excitement burning within the next generation of engineers,” said Kenrick Mock, dean of the UAA College of Engineering. “It’s little moments like these, with the support of their families and volunteers from Alaska’s engineering community, that students remember as they grow up and begin making decisions about their education and career.”

The Student Competitions are only possible thanks to the time and energy of volunteers from the engineering community. Each competition was presented by a different professional organization or company. The competitions this year included:

• Tower Shaking and Breaking Competition – Presented by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, Air-Conditioning Engineers
• Newspaper Tower Competition – Presented by the Society of Petroleum Engineers
• LEGO Long-o Competition – Presented by the Institute of Transportation Engineers
• Paper Airplane Distance Competition – Presented by HDR
• Floatable Moatable Competition – Presented by the Society of American Military Engineers
• Egg Drop Competition – Presented by the Society of Women Engineers
• Marshmallow and Spaghetti Tower Competition – Presented by ConocoPhillips Alaska
• Bridge Strength Competition - Presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers