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RAPID CITY, S.D. (Sept. 3, 2012) – The public is invited to watch South Dakota School of Mines and Technology students put their ingenuity to work as 16 teams tackle an elaborate surprise design challenge from start to finish within a matter of hours.
Students will gather at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Rapid Plaza Civic Center to receive their “Design Wars” project. Each team of four students will receive the same assignment, materials, technology tools for communication and time to complete the project. They will be tasked with designing, constructing and documenting an engineered solution to a complex problem on site within eight hours. Their ability to communicate and adapt to changing conditions will be tested.
The public will be invited to view the final stage of the “Design Wars” at 3 p.m. in the Civic Center’s Barnett Arena, when teams begin final assembly of their project. Admission cost for public viewing is two cans of food or $5, which will be donated to a local food pantry.
The competition was organized through a mobile computing research grant from School of Mines Faculty Development Funds, and use of technology for team members to communicate will be crucial throughout the competition.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams – $1,000 for first place, $600 for second place and $200 for third place. They will be judged on novelty, functionality and engineering efficiency.
“We’re interested in seeing just how creative our students can be when presented with an unusual design challenge. I think people will be impressed at how they rise to the challenge,” said Dr. Andrea Surovek, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who created “Design Wars” with Dr. Dean Jensen, associate professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering.
Undergraduate researchers Preston Oihus and Cody Kopriva have been instrumental in helping get the competition together.
The competition also provides a mechanism for the professors to examine the student creative process. Students will be asked to complete a self-assessment of creativity before competition begins. Their responses will be compared with their competition results.
Mobile computing savvy will be a key part of their success.
The engineer of 2020 will need to be creative, dynamic, agile, resilient and flexible, according to Surovek and Jensen. “They also need to be able to communicate well, and these days it’s mobile, computer-based communication,” Jensen said. “We anticipate getting both qualitative and quantitative data. With the survey taken before the competition, we’ll see if we can predict which teams will get higher scores. This will be a very broad look at an unconventional, open-ended design problem. There is no single right answer.”
Find out more at
thespot.sdsmt.edu.
If You Go
What: “Design Wars”
Where: Rapid Plaza Civic Center’s Barnett Arena
When: Saturday, Sept. 8, 3 p.m. for public viewing of final assembly
Entry: Two cans of food or $5, to be donated to a local pantry
Online:
thespot.sdsmt.edu