More than 80 engineering student inventions ranging from whimsical Rube Goldberg contraptions to devices that help a person to walk on water will be demonstrated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's ITLL Spring Design Expo on Saturday, April 23.
The event, which is free and open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., will include exhibits and demonstrations in the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory as well as outside on the Herbst Plaza. The ITL Laboratory is located on Regent Drive just south of Colorado Avenue.
The popular end-of-semester event will showcase the work of about 400 engineering students at CU-Boulder along with about 50 youngsters from local K-12 schools who are part of CU's Technology and Engineering to Advance Math and Science initiative. The K-12 students, who are learning some of the basic principles of engineering from CU engineering students assisting in their classrooms, have created newspaper launchers and other simple devices that will be demonstrated at the exposition.
CU-Boulder engineering student projects range from a Rube Goldberg pie-throwing machine designed and built by first-year students to "capstone" projects designed by graduating seniors in various engineering disciplines. Senior design projects include the Society of Automotive Engineers' formula race car and the MaCH-SR1 high-altitude rocket.
Volunteers from industry, government and the community will serve as judges, rating each project on its originality, craftsmanship, understanding of engineering principles, effectiveness and poster presentation. An awards ceremony will be held at the close of the event, and prizes will be given to the best design project in each category. Members of the community also can vote for their favorite project to win the "People's Choice" award.
Free parking is available across the street in lot 436. For more information call (303) 492-8112.