A team of 17 engineering students from UBC's Okanagan campus are heading to Saskatoon to match their skills against talented engineering students from all over Western Canada this week.
It's the first time students from UBC's Okanagan campus have attended the Western Engineering Competition (WEC). Now in its 26th year, the WEC runs Wednesday through Sunday (Jan. 26 to 30), bringing together the smartest and most talented engineering students from Western Canada to compete in a variety of events.
"This competition will be a wonderful -- and challenging -- experience for our students," says Spiro Yannacopoulos, Director of the School of Engineering. "They will have an opportunity to put into practice their ingenuity, communications skills, and many of the other talents and abilities they have developed through their Engineering studies. We wish them the very best against some strong competitors from across Western Canada."
Students from the Okanagan will participate in:
- Consulting Engineering
Teams of four are given four to six hours to devise an innovative solution to a real-world problem prescribed by a hypothetical client. Each team is expected to assess the economic and social aspects of the problem and present a proposal to the client.
- Junior Team Design
Teams of four first- and second-year students tackle a physical engineering problem. Each team is given four hours and the necessary materials to devise a solution to the given problem.
- Senior Team Design
Upper-year students are presented with an engineering design problem. Each team is given a hint one week prior to the competition and can prepare accordingly. On competition day, the teams have eight hours to implement their solution with the materials provided. Teams must also prepare a short presentation on their approach to solving the design problem, followed by a demonstration of their prototype.
WEC has a legacy of providing a forum for students from across Western Canada to develop and showcase their problem solving, teamwork, and communication skills through competition with their peers. Aside from inspiring student achievement, WEC provides an excellent opportunity for student and industry networking.
Delegates will have opportunities to visit various companies in the city on industry tours, as well as visit the University of Saskatchewan campus.
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Update: Feb. 1 -- Okanagan students get results
Engineering students from UBC’s Okanagan campus finished third in Senior Design, and received honourable mention in Consulting at the Western Engineering Competition in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Jan. 26 to 30.
The team was sponsored by Spider Agile Technology, a Kelowna-based firm that develops sustainable, adaptable power distribution systems.
Senior Design team member Devyn Farr was interviewed on Saskatchewan CTV:
University students creating robots to help around the farm
Senior Design team, from left: Gordon Ross, Eric Baikie, Ska-Hiish Manuel, Devyn Farr
Consulting team: Kavish Bujun, Aurelien Schilles, Sanjesh Mudallar, Andrew Boitchenko