BY EMILY MARASCO
APEGGA Student Columnist
University of Calgary

February 2010

Emily Marasco is in her fourth year of computer engineering and is also pursuing a music minor. She is currently vice-president, academic, for the Electrical, Computer and Software Students’ Society and president of Schulich Soundstage.

Several delegates represented the University of Calgary at the annual Canadian Federation of Engineering Students Congress as 2010 kicked off. This year’s event was hosted by McMaster University, Hamilton. APEGGA student member Darshni Pillay was elected as the new vice-president of communications of the CFES.

Schulich students continued to shine as they competed against other universities in the recent Western Engineering Competition, in Winnipeg. APEGGA student members and third-year students John McDonald and Kasmira Pawa were first-place winners in the category Engineering Communications.

ALL SMILES AT WEC
APEGGA Student Members John McDonald and Kasmira Pawa win first place in Engineering Communications at WEC 2010.
-photo courtesy Jennings Huang

Teams must give a presentation on a technical subject in layperson’s terms. They must also analyze the impact that the topic has on society and the environment. Judging is based on presentation and verbal skills.

John and Kasmira will be competing at the national Canadian Engineering Competition in Toronto, this March.

Others Stayed Home

The winter semester began with the annual festivities of Engineering Week. Events brought together the various departments and competition was fierce. Attendees enjoyed movie night, snow sculptures, scavenger hunt, key clue and even the engineering version of Iron Chef.

This year’s teams were strong across the board, but in the end, the overall winner of 2010 was the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Kudos in Concrete

SCARY TIMES
Night of the Living Sled, a winner in concrete for the hardworking team.
-photo courtesy Allison Hofmann

January ended in triumph for the U of C’s Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race team, at the annual four-day event hosted this year at McMaster University, Hamilton. The goal of GNCTR is to design and construct a toboggan that has an entirely concrete running surface.

This year’s team adopted Night of the Living Sled as its theme and worked hard to incorporate this idea into all aspects of the competition – including the toboggan. Other than concrete, the toboggan contained a superstructure and braking mechanism, both constructed out of aluminum to minimize weight. As the first competition team to pre-stress its skis, the U of C won the award for best concrete and reinforcement.

To go along with the creepy theme, the toboggan was shaped as a coffin.

Countless hours went into this year’s competition elements, including the construction, planning logistics, fundraising and costume production. No detail was overlooked as the team prepared to exhibit their toboggan. Outfitted in black sweatpants and shirts, the 30-member team looked imposing (but warm!) with hand-painted, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, glowing gloves, balaclavas and neon green toques.

Two professional choreographers were hired to teach Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance, which the team performed as part of the opening ceremonies. The team’s technical exhibit featured a crypt, dry ice fog, TVs playing horror movies, and, of course, the “coffin ’boggan” itself!

The team won, in addition to the earlier-mentioned awards, a $2,000 award from the Association of Canadian Industries Recycling Coal Ash, for most effective use of fly ash, and the newly introduced King of the Hill Tournament. This last award was the result of winning a series of races and progressing until all other teams were beaten.

In addition, U of C was ranked first for technical presentation and won third in team spirit. All in all, Night of the Living Sled placed second overall.

For APEGGA student member Allison Hofmann, this was her second year on the team. As part of the executive committee, she was the sponsorship manager and will be the co-project manager for the 2011 team.

She said: “My favourite part of GNCTR is the overwhelming sense of camaraderie between all the teams. GNCTR is unique among engineering competitions in that, even though you want your team to win, everyone cheers for everyone else. The energy is so electric the whole weekend. I love it!”