Engineering Week, or E-Week for short, is a weeklong celebration of
engineering and will be held from Feb. 20-24. The week includes the Mines
Chemistry Magic Show, Engineering and Science Day (seen here), Order of the
Engineer induction and MathCounts.
For 47 years, South Dakota
Mines has invited middle school students to campus in February to learn about
the fields of science and engineering. The 2024 Engineers
Week will be held Feb. 20-24 with free events for the campus community, area
students and the general public. See Engineers
Week highlights in this video.
Engineers Week was founded by the National Society
of Professional Engineers (NPSE) in 1951 and is celebrated the week of
Presidents Day in honor of President George Washington, considered the nation’s
first engineer.
The week starts with the Mines Chemistry Magic Show
on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. as part of STEAM Café. This event will be held
in the Beck Ballroom in the Surbeck Center on the university’s campus. Students
with the university’s chapter of the American Chemical Society will present
science-based demonstrations. This event is free and open to the public.
On Thursday, Feb. 22, the university will also host nearly
700 middle and high school students for Engineering & Science Day. The day
begins with demonstrations by academic departments held across campus and the
Mines Chemistry Magic Show from 9 a.m. to noon. Students can also enjoy a
lunchtime concert from noon until 1 p.m. in the Music Center and an afternoon
talk on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope by Deputy Director of SD Space Grant
Consortium Tom Durkin. The NASA presentation will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
in the Beck Ballroom and is open to the public.
On Friday, Feb. 23, Engineers Week activities continue
with the annual Order of the
Engineer induction ceremony for
graduating seniors. The Order fosters a spirit of responsibility and
pride in the engineering profession. This year’s event will take place in the Beck
Ballroom in the Surbeck Center on campus starting at 4 p.m.
Finally, on Saturday, Feb. 24, Mines will play host
to MathCounts. MathCounts
is one of the most successful education partnerships involving volunteers,
educators, industry sponsors and students. The contest is for sixth through
eighth grade students from western South Dakota schools. MathCounts is
sponsored by the South Dakota Engineering Society, Black Hills Chapter.