2023 Engineering EXPO


Sunday, Feb. 26, 12-3pm
Monday, Feb. 27, 9am-3pm



  

"Jayhawk" 

Activities

All activities will be offered in person at the top of the hour. Click on the activity name to see additional details.



Help the Ghosts! with Alpha Sigma Kappa
For this experiment, students will build a perch for a ghost (big puff ball) using foil, pipe cleaners, tape, cupcake cups, and/or paper so pac man can't get them.

Pac-Man Code Maze with KU Women In Computing
The students will try to escape the maze through blocks of code (these code statements will be pre-written). There will be 3 mazes, each one has a different level of difficulty. One maze will be large enough that the kids can walk through the maze. As kids walk through the maze they will be given a magnetic clipboard with prewritten chunks of code that have magnetic tape on the back, that they can move around and piece together. The other two mazes will be much smaller and be placed on tables.

Reinforced Soil Sand Castles with ASCE
Students will be making sand castles that can support bricks or even a kid's weight by adding layers of paper towel/window screening. 

Connecting the Lines with ASHRAE
Students will use pipes to transport/connect water to predetermined buckets to learn about water lines in refrigeration.

Construction Simulation with AGC
Students will build a specified structure within a given time limit and with a restricted budget. The students will have to plan how to spend their “money” on the available materials. The means and methods are up to the students. The building time will be subjected to unforeseen conditions causing the groups potential delays

Designing Skee Balls! with AIAA
Students will design "flying skee balls'' for the brand new-and-improved skee ball. Students will help improve on the original ring design by adding tissue paper and other accessories to the original cardboard ring. Students will learn about lift and how this affects the distance something can fly.

Flappy Jay with ACM
Students will be led through a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a scratch-based game of Flappy Jay (KU version of Flappy Bird)!

Robotic Hand with SBE
Students will create a robotic hand using straws and string to pick up and move ping pong balls into a cup.

Video Game Ciphers with KU Information Security Club
We will create a static retro themed web page that includes 3-4 cipher challenges for participants to solve. A web page we create will include buttons where participants can learn about the given cipher, submit their answer, and reveal the answer if they are stuck. Cipher challenges include the Minecraft enchanting language, standard shift/rotational cipher, and converting decimal values to alphanumeric characters. 

Recyclable Carton Planter with KU United States Green Building Council
Students will plant seeds in egg cartons and decorate their respective cartons to emulate Stardew Valley gardens. When the seeds begin to sprout roots later on the students can remove them from the carton, recycle the carton, and plant the sprouts outside!

Car Wars with KU ITE
Participants have to drive a remote-controlled car on three different tracks. Each track will have different roads (arterial road, highway, freeway) so they can understand the different types of roads and their purposes. Each track will also have different obstacles like 4way stop signs, detouring due to road work, intersections, traffic, speed limit, etc where they will understand more about transportation engineering and safety. All three tracks will coincide at some point.

Shake Table Activity with EERI
Participants will fabricate a structural model utilizing allowed materials, following specific limitations and rules, and putting it to a stability test by placing it on top of an earthquake-simulating “shake table.” The structural models will be placed on a “shake table” and will be subjected to varying, and increasing, levels of “shaking.” 

Magic Worm with Society for Biomaterials
Participants will get to make gummy worms. Gummy worms can be made with a sodium alginate mixture and calcium chloride. The engineering behind polymers will also be discussed.

Build Your Own Board Game with oSTEM
Participants will build their own game board, created using magnetic pegs, that must be able to be navigated by a small ball. Participants will be expected to come up with a purpose for their design (focusing on the difficulty and design of the board). 

JAD Invaders with Jayhawk Aero Design
A play on "Space Invaders", students will assemble small toy planes and throw them at alien targets that are set up to see how many they can knock down. We will also have our own competition planes and jets on display and members will show aspects of the plane as well as teach the kids aerospace basics!

Various Rocket Activities with Jayhawk High Power Rocketry
(1) We will have a virtual reality headset that kids can put on and play the game "Reentry". In this game, you pilot a rocket into orbit around Earth. We will guide the kids through the process of how to fly the rocket while they are playing the game. (2) We will have a trivia game similar to Jeopardy. Kids will be asked questions about rockets/space/video games, and will be awarded with candy. (3) We will also have a  "build your own rocket" station. Here, we will have kids use paper, straws, and other general construction materials to build their own small rockets. Once they have completed their rockets, we will use an air pump to launch the rockets across the room.

Student Led Projects with IEEE and Eta Kappa Nu
Students will get to interact with our projects, see them demonstrated, and ask any question that crosses their minds. We will have a console disassembled for students to see its inner workings and discuss the internal systems/mechanisms that result in a game showing up on the screen. There would be an opportunity for them to play the game we have on display.

Arcade AI with KU AI
We will have two different neural network AI's playing two different games, one that runs tetris in the background and interactable pacman AI.

Minecraft Composter with EWB
Students will make their own personal composter. The composter will be composed of a water bottle, soil, and newspaper in it. The engineering behind composting will be talked about.

Swinging Ball Annihilator with SHPE
Students will build a pendulum to try to knock down a tower of blocks. A discussion about variables affecting a pendulum including string length and size of the pendulum will occur. 

Lava Lamp with SWE
Students will make a lava lamp to learn about buoyancy, carbonation, and chemical reactions. Using oil, water, and alka seltzer, kids will make their own lava lamp! 

Peak Oil Game with SPE
This activity will demonstrate what happens to production as the amount of oil in the ground decreases.

Build a Challenge Course for Mario with Tau Beta Pi
Donkey Kong: Stop Mario from reaching the top and keep Princess Peach to yourself! Students will be able to use the paper to create their own Donkey Kong level. The students will use construction paper to build a challenge course for Mario to climb. They will use marbles as the rocks that Donkey Kong throws to see if they can stop Mario from reaching the top of their course.

Slippery Slope with Theta Tau
This is a game mimicking skeeball with a flat section and a ramp. On the ramp there are sections with different point totals with the most points being in the middle of the ramp and the least being on the outer edges of the ramp. The ramp and flat section will have different materials showing the effect of friction (felt, wood, and wallpaper). The ball used will be a tennis ball.

Virtual Reality Experience with Upsilon Pi Epsilon
We have access to VR headsets that attendees can use to play games to experience VR and we will show off a VR project one of UPE's members is working on as a part of their capstone project.

 

"Jayhawk" 

Competitions

Click on the competition name for detailed instructions and submission guidelines.

 

Catapult Battleship with ASME
Students will launch marbles at boats in a small body of water. Design a catapult that will shoot a standard-size marble three to five feet. Make sure to practice precision. The more boats you sink, the more points you will earn. Whichever team gets the most points, wins!

JMS Kart with Jayhawk Motorsports
Participants will build balloon cars and race in a straight line course against each other.

Pom-Pom Launcher Competition with NSBE and ASE
For this competition, you will be creating a pom pom launcher to launch a lightweight pom pom a fixed distance.

 

"Jayhawk" 

Demonstrations

All demonstrations will be offered in person at the top of the hour. Click on the demonstration name to see additional details.



Iodine Clock Reaction and Film Canister Rockets with AICE
Students will watch a demonstration of an iodine clock reaction. Students will then learn about pressure and acid-base reactions by making film canister rockets using Alka seltzer tablets and water, attaching them to a piece of cardboard to make a launcher, then firing at Jenga towers angry birds style. 

Various Robotics Demonstrations with KU Robotics
Demonstrations of various student-made projects.

Will it Sink or Float? with Concrete Canoe
Concrete Canoe will demonstrate how concrete can float and the science behind why certain objects sink or float. 

Zero Force Members with KU Steel Bridge
We will be doing a demonstration on a simple aspect of bridge design. The students will learn about zero-force members that are part of a truss system. We plan to use a truss system kit to let the kids load a certain point on the bridge, while we remove the zero-force members. This will demonstrate how force moves throughout the truss systems giving the kids an insight into why we use trusses, and how forces work.

Kerbal Space Program and Satellites with KUbeSat
There will be a demonstration of a Kerbal space program-type video game. We will also do a build-your-own satellite activity with toilet paper rolls, and/or build your own CubeSat handout activity.

  

"Jayhawk" 

Activities

All activities will be offered in person at the top of the hour. Click on the activity name to see additional details.



Help the Ghosts! with Alpha Sigma Kappa
For this experiment, students will build a perch for a ghost (big puff ball) using foil, pipe cleaners, tape, cupcake cups, and/or paper so pac man can't get them.

Pac-Man Code Maze with KU Women In Computing
The students will try to escape the maze through blocks of code (these code statements will be pre-written). There will be 3 mazes, each one has a different level of difficulty. One maze will be large enough that the kids can walk through the maze. As kids walk through the maze they will be given a magnetic clipboard with prewritten chunks of code that have magnetic tape on the back, that they can move around and piece together. The other two mazes will be much smaller and be placed on tables.

Reinforced Soil Sand Castles with ASCE
Students will be making sand castles that can support bricks or even a kid's weight by adding layers of paper towel/window screening. 

Connecting the Lines with ASHRAE
Students will use pipes to transport/connect water to predetermined buckets to learn about water lines in refrigeration.

Construction Simulation with AGC
Students will build a specified structure within a given time limit and with a restricted budget. The students will have to plan how to spend their “money” on the available materials. The means and methods are up to the students. The building time will be subjected to unforeseen conditions causing the groups potential delays

Designing Skee Balls! with AIAA
Students will design "flying skee balls'' for the brand new-and-improved skee ball. Students will help improve on the original ring design by adding tissue paper and other accessories to the original cardboard ring. Students will learn about lift and how this affects the distance something can fly.

Flappy Jay with ACM
Students will be led through a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a scratch-based game of Flappy Jay (KU version of Flappy Bird)!

Robotic Hand with SBE
Students will create a robotic hand using straws and string to pick up and move ping pong balls into a cup.

Video Game Ciphers with KU Information Security Club
We will create a static retro themed web page that includes 3-4 cipher challenges for participants to solve. A web page we create will include buttons where participants can learn about the given cipher, submit their answer, and reveal the answer if they are stuck. Cipher challenges include the Minecraft enchanting language, standard shift/rotational cipher, and converting decimal values to alphanumeric characters. 

Recyclable Carton Planter with KU United States Green Building Council
Students will plant seeds in egg cartons and decorate their respective cartons to emulate Stardew Valley gardens. When the seeds begin to sprout roots later on the students can remove them from the carton, recycle the carton, and plant the sprouts outside!

Car Wars with KU ITE
Participants have to drive a remote-controlled car on three different tracks. Each track will have different roads (arterial road, highway, freeway) so they can understand the different types of roads and their purposes. Each track will also have different obstacles like 4way stop signs, detouring due to road work, intersections, traffic, speed limit, etc where they will understand more about transportation engineering and safety. All three tracks will coincide at some point.

Shake Table Activity with EERI
Participants will fabricate a structural model utilizing allowed materials, following specific limitations and rules, and putting it to a stability test by placing it on top of an earthquake-simulating “shake table.” The structural models will be placed on a “shake table” and will be subjected to varying, and increasing, levels of “shaking.” 

Magic Worm with Society for Biomaterials
Participants will get to make gummy worms. Gummy worms can be made with a sodium alginate mixture and calcium chloride. The engineering behind polymers will also be discussed.

Build Your Own Board Game with oSTEM
Participants will build their own game board, created using magnetic pegs, that must be able to be navigated by a small ball. Participants will be expected to come up with a purpose for their design (focusing on the difficulty and design of the board). 

JAD Invaders with Jayhawk Aero Design
A play on "Space Invaders", students will assemble small toy planes and throw them at alien targets that are set up to see how many they can knock down. We will also have our own competition planes and jets on display and members will show aspects of the plane as well as teach the kids aerospace basics!

Various Rocket Activities with Jayhawk High Power Rocketry
(1) We will have a virtual reality headset that kids can put on and play the game "Reentry". In this game, you pilot a rocket into orbit around Earth. We will guide the kids through the process of how to fly the rocket while they are playing the game. (2) We will have a trivia game similar to Jeopardy. Kids will be asked questions about rockets/space/video games, and will be awarded with candy. (3) We will also have a  "build your own rocket" station. Here, we will have kids use paper, straws, and other general construction materials to build their own small rockets. Once they have completed their rockets, we will use an air pump to launch the rockets across the room.

Student Led Projects with IEEE and Eta Kappa Nu
Students will get to interact with our projects, see them demonstrated, and ask any question that crosses their minds. We will have a console disassembled for students to see its inner workings and discuss the internal systems/mechanisms that result in a game showing up on the screen. There would be an opportunity for them to play the game we have on display.

Arcade AI with KU AI
We will have two different neural network AI's playing two different games, one that runs tetris in the background and interactable pacman AI.

Minecraft Composter with EWB
Students will make their own personal composter. The composter will be composed of a water bottle, soil, and newspaper in it. The engineering behind composting will be talked about.

Swinging Ball Annihilator with SHPE
Students will build a pendulum to try to knock down a tower of blocks. A discussion about variables affecting a pendulum including string length and size of the pendulum will occur. 

Lava Lamp with SWE
Students will make a lava lamp to learn about buoyancy, carbonation, and chemical reactions. Using oil, water, and alka seltzer, kids will make their own lava lamp! 

Peak Oil Game with SPE
This activity will demonstrate what happens to production as the amount of oil in the ground decreases.

Build a Challenge Course for Mario with Tau Beta Pi
Donkey Kong: Stop Mario from reaching the top and keep Princess Peach to yourself! Students will be able to use the paper to create their own Donkey Kong level. The students will use construction paper to build a challenge course for Mario to climb. They will use marbles as the rocks that Donkey Kong throws to see if they can stop Mario from reaching the top of their course.

Slippery Slope with Theta Tau
This is a game mimicking skeeball with a flat section and a ramp. On the ramp there are sections with different point totals with the most points being in the middle of the ramp and the least being on the outer edges of the ramp. The ramp and flat section will have different materials showing the effect of friction (felt, wood, and wallpaper). The ball used will be a tennis ball.

Virtual Reality Experience with Upsilon Pi Epsilon
We have access to VR headsets that attendees can use to play games to experience VR and we will show off a VR project one of UPE's members is working on as a part of their capstone project.

 

"Jayhawk" 

Competitions

Click on the competition name for detailed instructions and submission guidelines.

 

Catapult Battleship with ASME
Students will launch marbles at boats in a small body of water. Design a catapult that will shoot a standard-size marble three to five feet. Make sure to practice precision. The more boats you sink, the more points you will earn. Whichever team gets the most points, wins!

JMS Kart with Jayhawk Motorsports
Participants will build balloon cars and race in a straight line course against each other.

Pom-Pom Launcher Competition with NSBE and ASE
For this competition, you will be creating a pom pom launcher to launch a lightweight pom pom a fixed distance.

 

"Jayhawk" 

Demonstrations

All demonstrations will be offered in person at the top of the hour. Click on the demonstration name to see additional details.



Iodine Clock Reaction and Film Canister Rockets with AICE
Students will watch a demonstration of an iodine clock reaction. Students will then learn about pressure and acid-base reactions by making film canister rockets using Alka seltzer tablets and water, attaching them to a piece of cardboard to make a launcher, then firing at Jenga towers angry birds style. 

Various Robotics Demonstrations with KU Robotics
Demonstrations of various student-made projects.

Will it Sink or Float? with Concrete Canoe
Concrete Canoe will demonstrate how concrete can float and the science behind why certain objects sink or float. 

Zero Force Members with KU Steel Bridge
We will be doing a demonstration on a simple aspect of bridge design. The students will learn about zero-force members that are part of a truss system. We plan to use a truss system kit to let the kids load a certain point on the bridge, while we remove the zero-force members. This will demonstrate how force moves throughout the truss systems giving the kids an insight into why we use trusses, and how forces work.

Kerbal Space Program and Satellites with KUbeSat
There will be a demonstration of a Kerbal space program-type video game. We will also do a build-your-own satellite activity with toilet paper rolls, and/or build your own CubeSat handout activity.

Misc. Info

Info for Schools

FAQ

  • --> Where is the event?

  • 1536 W 15th St, Lawrence, KS 66045

  • The starting point will by inside Learned Engineering Expansion Phase 2 (LEEP 2) but all activities, demos, and competitions will be spread out throughout classrooms around the Engineering Complex!

  • --> How long should I plan to spend at the event?

  • It depends. You are free to visit any of the activities, demonstrations, or participate in any competitions. You may stay for all of them or leave after just one.

  • --> Is this event free and open to the public?

  • Yes! We are proudly sponsored by the KU School of Engineering, Engineering Student Council, and Student Senate.

  • --> I'm going to bring a big group, should I register?

  • We encourage big groups (>15 participants) to register so we can get an accurate head count for supplies needed for the activities. Sign up on the above link!

Info for Orgs


Questions? Email us at: engrexpo@ku.edu or expoactivitiesku@gmail.com.