Waterloo Engineering Competition

Welcome to University of Waterloo Engineering! Being enrolled in an engineering program does not only mean working towards an engineering degree. You should always look for extracurricular opportunities that allow you to use and apply your engineering knowledge outside the curriculum.

Waterloo Engineering Competition (WEC) is one such avenue organized by the Engineering Society (EngSoc) and Sir Sanford Fleming Foundation (SFF). WEC is broken down into three categories: Junior Design, Senior design, and Consulting.

The Junior Design Competition is open to first and second-year students in teams of four. The teams are given four hours to design and build a prototype in response to the given problem. Students are required to make a poster presentation on their design and demonstrate the functionality and feasibility of their prototype. In the past, majority of the problems have involved the building of a vehicle which can run over the provided terrain. The senior design competition, for third and fourth year students is run similarly to the junior design competition.

The consulting competition is open to students of any academic level. Students from any year and discipline can form teams of four to participate. This category focuses on research, product development and presentation, and project management skills. Students are given five hours to come up with a feasible solution to a real engineering problem. Students are required to submit a report and a presentation explaining their solution.

The competition is held during the Spring and Fall terms so all student have an opportunity to participate. The Winners from WEC represent University of Waterloo on the provincial level at Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) held in February. They also get a designation on their official undergraduate transcripts.

The Sandford Fleming Foundation (SFF) also organizes Technical Speaking and Debate competitions each term. The winners from these competitions also move on to the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) competing against other Ontario Engineering universities.

The Waterloo Engineering Competition (WEC) will be held in November this year. Keep an eye for announcements at the Engineering Society meetings or visit http://www.wec.uwaterloo.ca/index.html for more information.