UMKC School of Computing and Engineering (SCE) student organizations and competition teams worked together with the SCE Student Council to ensure the 2014 E-Week activities at SCE over Feb. 16-22 chased any February blues away (even when temperatures dropped to 0 degree F). The line-up of events included the ACI/ASCE Concrete Bowling Competition, Chris Cake’s Pancake Breakfast, a STEM Career Fair, the E-Week Luncheon, SWE’s Mr. Engineer contest, the Baja Racing Team’s Pit Crew Challenge, the ACM Book Sale, the HPV Race, IEEE/Robotics Team’s Minute to Win It, an ACM/UPE sponsored Video Game Night, EWB Movie Night, the HKN/IEEE Egg Drop and the SCE Alumni Happy Hour.

While all of the week’s events were a great success, five consistently stand out as the most popular among SCE students, faculty and staff:

Tuesday’s Chris Cake Pancake Breakfast, sponsored by the SCE Student Council, features delicious sausage and pancakes cooked and flipped on a giant grill, complemented with orange juice and coffee. Hundreds of hungry SCE students, faculty and staff flocked to the buffet line.

Wednesday’s STEM Career Fair scheduled during E-Week each year provided SCE students an opportunity to meet recruiters from 35 of Kansas City’s top computer science and engineering firms. The Kansas City firms participating this year are on many computer science and engineering student’s “most-wanted employer” lists.

Thursday’s E-Week Luncheon is one of the largest gatherings of professional engineers you’ll likely see. Participating firms invited over 40 SCE students to join their tables, and every SCE engineering student that wanted to attend was welcomed. Companies hosting SCE students included Benesch, BHC Rhodes, Black & Veatch, City of Overland Park, Garver, GBA, HDR, HNTB, Honeywell, IEEE Kansas City Section, KCP&L, Sega, SKW-Inc., Terracon, and USACE. Additionally, 12 SCE faculty and staff attended. The luncheon is sponsored by the Western Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE) and the Eastern Chapter of the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE). This year’s event was held at the downtown Marriott Hotel. Prior to the luncheon, guests enjoyed visiting exhibits showcasing engineering firms, engineering solutions and engineering education.

Friday’s Mr. Engineer Contest, sponsored by our own SCE Society of Women Engineers student chapter and the SCE Student Council, drew over 150 students, faculty, staff and alumni. SWE’s annual end of E-Week party destroys any and all engineer or computer science stereotypes that might come to mind by featuring the diverse talents of our “Mr. Engineer” contestants. Six worthy opponents showcased their talents – John Basin (ME), Huy Dao (CE), Karl Faust (ME), Cody Kaspzyk (ME), Aaron Rush (ECE) and Safeer Siddicky (Master’s ME). This year’s winner of the Mr. Engineer title is Cody Kaspzyk, whose imitation of faculty members had the crowd laughing to the point of tears. Congratulations, Cody!

The SCE E-Week Blood Drive, the final event of SCE’s E-Week celebration, commands a huge thank you to all of the participants and volunteers. This event, hosted by SCE’s Engineers Without Borders and Missouri Society of Professional Engineers student chapters, takes place annually during the week following National Engineer’s Week so students can rest up before participating. Final results are still being tallied and will be reported once the numbers are in.

Thank you to all who volunteered and attended events to make the week a success. SCE looks forward to more fun to come at E-Week 2015.