From February 1st to 3rd, 2013, McMaster University hosted the Ontario Engineering Competition. This is the largest engineering competition held in Canada, hosting 16 schools in 6 competitions. With over 100 competitors in attendance it was an exciting and very competitive environment. The theme of the competition was “Complete Engineering.”
Our school was represented in all 6 of the competitions, and we performed especially well in the Technical Debates where competitors, Jeric Paulig and Matthew Michael placed 3rd. Many of our students worked very hard over the weekend to solve problems about mining in Northern Canada, designing model wind turbines, programming robots, showing off an innovative customizable interface and and presenting cutting edge topics in the field of geomagnetic disturbances and deep brain stimulation. It was really a weekend where one could observe the brilliant minds we have in our generation across the province, and Waterloo was showcased quite well.
The highlight of the weekend was keynote speaker, Mark Chamberlain, a University of Waterloo graduate. He spoke of the engineer’s obligation to ethics, the environment, and society. Chamberlain was an excellent speaker and gave great examples of how easy it can often be to compromise society or the environment for economics and greater profits. Yet Chamberlain always came back to the main point, that we as engineers have an obligation to our world to take care of it as technology advances. It was a harsh truth, that hopefully resonated with the competitors as strongly as it resonated in the passion of Mark Chamberlain’s voice.
The weekend was very educational overall, from the competitions to presentations to sponsors and judges. It was a positive experience for all of our competitors.
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