Posted on March 8, 2024 by Storm Goodman
The Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering took home this year's E-Week Labs Exhibit Trophy
Engineering Week, hosted by the Klesse Student Advisory Council, is a weeklong celebration of all engineering majors at Klesse College and for four years, has been concluded with an E-Week Lab Exhibition. This exhibition allows current UTSA students to present what they have studied and learned throughout their time here to visiting high school students in a fun and engaging way. Students from John Jay High School, Sandra Day O’Connor High School, William H. Taft High School, Highlands High School, and John Paul Stevens High School were all invited to come visit the E-Week Lab Exhibition. Each interactive lab activity was hosted by a department at Klesse College, and at the end of the day, the high schoolers got to vote on which department hosted their favorite lab. The department that gets the most votes is presented with the E-Week Labs Exhibit Trophy.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering hosted the Storm Water Treatment Lab and had students create and test water filtration systems by measuring the color and clearness of the water after being filtered. They also hosted the Computational Turbulence and Visualization Lab where VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), smart glasses, and holo lenses were utilized to help students visualize the flow of thermal-liquid and understand fluid dynamics.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering hosted two labs, the Driving Simulator Lab and the Balancing Act: Steel Ball Lab. In the Driving Simulator Lab, students were allowed to sit behind the wheel of a driving simulator and test out their skills on the virtual highway. In the Steel Ball Lab, students were able to learn about various microcomputer systems and their functions, including a demonstration of how they can be programmed to automatically balance a steel ball.
The Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering hosted the Drug Delivery Systems lab. In this lab, students were taught about different drug delivery systems and were given an interactive demonstration of how different dosages can have different effects based on the patient.
In the Klesse College Makerspace, students got the awesome opportunity to show off their pilot skills as they piloted a drone through an obstacle course to score points and set high scores. While waiting for their turn, they were able to explore the Makerspace and learn about some of the 35+ student organizations at Klesse College.
At the end of the day, all votes were counted, and while it was a very close competition, the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering took home the E-Week Labs Exhibit Trophy. However, it can also be said that the visiting high school students who got to experience an amazing day learning about some of the fascinating projects going on at Klesse College are truly winners as well.
— Storm Goodman
