The sixth annual Engineering Liftoff on September 9 brought together over 200 participants, including freshmen, upperclass coaches, RCEL faculty/staff and volunteers, crowded into the RMC Grand Hall for a day of challenges and fun.
The competition designs were very creative this year, including catapults, canons and trebuchets! Dr. Fred Higgs, RCEL Faculty Director, opened the event by explaining the importance of leadership for engineers, and Dr. Keith Cooper, L. John & Ann H. Doerr Chair in Computational Engineering, followed up with stories of how Rice engineers change the world every day. Emma Baker, senior, Mechanical Engineering, gave a wonderful speech about her experience at Rice and in RCEL, and acknowledged several student engineering leaders in the crowd. After dinner from the Breakfast Klub, the door prize winner was suprised with a GoPro HERO Session (camera) with accessories and memory card.
New this year, RCEL student leaders served in the Pod Facilitators, roles typically filled by faculty. Thanks to Hurricane Harvey and the flooding that crippled Houston after, several RCEL faculty and staff members were not able to attend the event this year. RCEL students James Phillips, senior, Mechanical Engineering; Pablo Luna, senior, Mechanical Engineering; Emma Baker, senior Mechanical Engineering; and Will Jones, senior, Mechanical Engineering, all stepped up and served as Pod Facilitators during the competition. They did a great job keeping their teams focused and following the rules!
Design Challenge Winners
Chenglin Yang, Bioengineering
Kaiyi Jiang, Bioengineering
Dora Huang, Bioengineering
Ryan Udell, Mechanical Engineering
Coach: Nicholas Wolf, Mechanical Engineering
Congratulations to Alice Wong, undecided, who won the door prize winner - this year's prize was a GoPro - HERO Session Waterproof Camera.
Thank you Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) member Daniela Chona ’12, Chemical Engineering, and her husband Roger for volunteering as Pod Leaders during the event!