Competitions

Competitions for Engineers Day 2024 included several competitions hosted by organizations from around the college. View a full list of rules and regulations for the competitions.


Balsa Wood Bridge Competition

Hosted by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Bridges made in advance. The objective of this event is to design and construct the lightest bridge capable of supporting a given load over a given span. The bridge must allow the passage of one Hot Wheels Car of any variety along the entire length.


Capture the Flag

Hosted by Systers and HackUTK

Students will work in small teams (1-3 members) and must race against the clock to solve as many ciphers and related problems as they can before the competition’s end.


Cup Stacking Competition

Hosted by Alpha Omega Epsilon

Students will work together in teams of 4-6 people to stack the cups into a pyramid without using their hands to touch the cup. This is done by members working together to expand and contract the rubber band (with their individual pieces of string) around the cups to stack them. The team with the fastest built pyramid wins.


Design Challenge

Hosted by Biomedical Engineering Society

This challenge has students design an item that helps improve people’s day to day lives. Once at our table students will be given supplies to draw out their device. If needed we will give them specific problems to solve but we really want this to be an activity where students can be as creative as they possibly can.


Egg Drop Competition

Hosted by Materials Research Society

Devices made in advance. The event consists of dropping an egg in a contraption made by participants off a bridge onto a target. Participants make a contraption of various household or store-bought materials with the goal of preventing the egg from breaking when dropped. The event encourages the participant to consider their contraption from a materials design perspective, including factors like contraption weight and complexity.


Lego Assembly Line Competition

Hosted by The Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers

Teams of 2-4 students compete to strategically build a lego design that is built the quickest with the best quality compared to opposing teams.


Penny Boat Competition

Hosted by Tickle College of Engineering’s Office of Student Success

Work individually or in groups of 2-3. Each will be given a square of aluminum foil and a certain number of pennies. Groups/Individuals are to construct a boat out of the foil to hold as many pennies as possible without sinking.


Prosthetic Challenge

Hosted by Biomedical Engineering Society

Devices made in advance. This challenge has students design a usable, below knee, leg prosthetic with found items. Students will design and construct a leg prosthetic within the criteria mentioned in the guidelines/rules that can hold weight, allow students to walk and jump, be comfortable to wear, as well as get in and out of chairs. This challenge can be completed individually as well as in teams of any size!


Quiz Bowl Competition

Hosted by Tau Beta Pi

The quiz bowl consists of three rounds of questions related to engineering and math. Teams that perform well in the first round continue to the second round and likewise to the third round where the team that scores the best wins the competition.


Radiation Shield Competition

Hosted by American Nuclear Society and Women in Nuclear

Shields made in advance. The competition aims to introduce high school students to an aspect of nuclear engineering: radiation shielding. Students will prepare at home a shield that meets the guidelines in the rules and bring it to Engineers Day. Each shield will be tested to see how effectively it blocks radiation from a Co-60 source and the team with the lowest detected count rate relative to the weight of the shield wins.


Rocky Top Stand Competition

Hosted by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)

Groups will compete in making a structure out of foam that they can stand on.


Surveying Competition

Hosted by Chi Epsilon

Students will work together to use a total station to measure the direct interior angle between two prism poles located across the street by Neyland Stadium. Students will be given guided instructions on how to complete this task and must use teamwork and communication to effectively perform the measurement of the interior angle. Once the team completes and records the measurement on their piece of paper, they should hand the paper to their assigned Chi Epsilon Member to signal they are done with the competition and stop their time. Chi Epsilon members will record their time, measurement, and team name. The team whose measurement is the most accurate in the fastest amount of time is the winner.


Windmill Blades Competition

Hosted by American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers

Students will be designing windmill blades out of provided materials to see who can generate the greatest amount of energy.