Engineering students bring a big win home to Windsor
By Leanna Roy
Lance Writer
February 25, 2009
On Feb. 7, the Engineering Students Society sent several students to compete in the Ontario Engineering Competition in Guelph.
A preliminary competition was hosted by the Engineering Students Society in mid-January to select the winning teams that would represent the University of Windsor on the provincial level.
Windsor was being represented by three teams: the Junior Design Team, the Senior Design Team, and the Consultant Team.
Although all teams who competed represented Windsor proudly, ultimately it was the Junior Design Team, comprised of Taylor Purdy, Mikhele Fiorini, Franky Sabelli and Chris Maris, that stood out and medalled third in the competition.
When asked about his team’s work ethic, Franky Sabelli stated, “We had zero problems, that’s why I think we placed third.”
Although teamwork was most likely beneficial to the win, Dr. Edwin Tam commented that it was their design, their performance and the ability to communicate their solution that gave them the win.
“The point of these competitions is to foster teamwork,” said Tam.
“In engineering, you need to be able to communicate your solutions as well as create the solutions and these competitions help students to prepare for that.”
The team’s objective was to create a method to sustainably transport water from one location to another with limited means. Some of the restrictions included a $1,000 hypothetical budget, a four hour time frame to design and create their model, as well as something that engineers call “the Muskoka Elephant.”
This is a notion that whatever your solution is, it cannot create any additional problems that could affect the environment.
For example, their device was not allowed to touch the ground in order prevent any migration issues.
“Paying close attention to all possible issues is key to creating sustainable solutions,” said Sabelli.
In the end, this experience allowed students to network with the some of the top engineers in their profession, an opportunity that that will be available for them when they compete next year.
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