National Engineers Week - Community Day

Community Day: Saturday, Feb. 25

Innovative Technologies Complex, Binghamton University (in-person)

Sponsored by Watson College Dean's Office and Watson Career and Alumni Connections 

In celebration of National Engineers Week from Feb. 19-25, Watson College will host our annual Community Day event for children and their families. These fun, hands-on STEM activities are free and open to all ages!  

  • Morning session: 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
  • Afternoon session: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Capacity is limited to 110 children per session, and both sessions are now full. Masks are optional indoors.

  • Morning Session: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. 

    Amateur Radio 

    In times of disaster, when regular communications channels fail, ham radio operators can swing into action to assist emergency efforts and work with public service agencies. Amateur radio operators make friends around the world and can even communicate with astronauts on the International Space Station.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 2001

    Arduino Projects Exhibit

    Engineering Design Division 

    Investigate interactive projects built by our student teams using Arduino, an open-source prototyping platform. Projects include Bop-it, Horse Race, Maze Runner, Reaction Time Tester, Simon Says, Text Adventure and Whack-a-Mole.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 2001

    Bottle Rocket Launcher

    American Society of Mechanical Engineers

    Build and launch rockets into the sky using pressure.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda/COE Link

    Build-an-Ear Workshop

    Biomedical Engineering Society

    Ever wonder why ears look the way they do? Explore the science of sounds by building ear trumpets and listening to your favorite tunes! You will also learn about sound waves, ear shapes and the history of hearing aids. Be sure to use quiet voices!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2008E

    Create a Phone Using a Cup and String

    Theta Tau (Professional Engineering Fraternity) 

    Ever wondered how sound works? Build your own string-and-cup phone to talk to your friends while learning how sound travels!

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: COE Multipurpose Room

    DIY Mech-Hand

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Build a robot arm and compete to pick up different objects for prizes.

    Age groups: Middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Drive the Mars Rover

    Binghamton University Rover Team

    Check out our Mars Rover Prototype! Learn about all our subsystems and how we apply engineering principles to design, prototype and build a functioning rover. We are looking for some skilled pilots to help test drive the rover and help us make additions. You can also enter our raffle to win the naming rights to our rover!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Egg Drop

    Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineering Honor Society) 

    Design a device that will protect an egg from breaking after a high fall! Use various supplies to create and test your design! Some ideas include using plastic sandwich bags, tape, paper cups, popsicle sticks, cotton balls and balloons. All supplies will be provided. Get creative! Drops will be held at 11 and 11:50 a.m.

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: Room 2008W

    Electromagnetic Silent Disco

    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

    Our dance floor uses electromagnetic fields instead of sound. You can wind a loop of wire and attach it to a pair of earbuds so that you can hear the music when you hop on the dance floor. We'll show you some moves that illustrate how the fields work.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Seymour Kunis Media Core, Room 2303

    Fighting Bot Matches and Simple 3D Printing Lesson

    Watson Combat Robotics League

    Check out a live WCRL competition between two fighting robots — only one will remain! Plus, learn about 3D printing and take home a little 3D printed figurine.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Generate Electricity from Wind

    Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers

    Ever seen those giant wind turbines in the mountains? Did you know they supply power to your house? Join us to create you very own wind turbine generator!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Room 1006

    It's a 3D World Out There

    Roberson Museum and Science Center

    Let's construct polygons, polyhedra and more! Using K'NEX materials, participants will build, investigate and see the patterns in 3D objects.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Leonardo Da Vinci Popsicle Stick Bridge

    Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Society of Women Engineers

    Help us to create a bridge of any shape or size using popsicle sticks.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school 

    Location: 2nd floor above registration

    Make Your Own Lava Lamps

    American Society for Engineering Education

    Do you want to learn about density? Stop by our station to create your very own lava lamp! Choose what color you want and watch a super-cool reaction happen right in front of your eyes.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Marshmallow Catapult Skee-Ball

    Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society) 

    Think you can build the best catapult? Customize your own marshmallow launcher with three simple materials: popsicle sticks, rubber bands and a spoon! Put your device to the test with our skee-ball competition!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Room 1304

    Paper Circuits

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Create little paper circuits that allow you to draw a picture and then incorporate small LED lights using a very basic-level circuit (some wire and a tiny battery).

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Hallway near 1006

    Paper Crafts with LED Circuits

    Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Honor Society)

    Brighten up your paper crafts with LED circuits! Design your own card or paper creation and add LED lights through a battery-powered circuit. Take it home as a gift or decorate your room with your own circuit creation.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 1006

    Pasta and Marshmallow Towers

    Alpha Omega Epsilon

    Come build a pasta and marshmallow tower! Test the strength of different pasta shapes and try to build the tallest skyscraper.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Pimp My Ride

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Want to put your engineering skills to the test in a fast-paced competition for the ages? Have you ever wanted to build your dream car? Build a car out of household items and race them against your competitors — the fastest car gets bragging rights!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school 

    Location: Hallway by 1414

    Rocket Challenge

    National Society of Black Engineers

    Participants will work in teams to build an Alka-Seltzer rocket that can carry a payload of clay and hit a target several feet away.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2008E

    Round and Round - Build an Electric Motor

    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

    Build a simple electric motor out of a battery, a magnet, and some wire and paper clips! Using basic principles of electromagnetics, watch as your wire coil spins up like a real motor. After you are done, you have your own electric motor to take home and play with!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda

    Rubber-Band Racers and SuperCar Driving Simulator

    Society of Automotive Engineers

    Rubber Band Racers: Want to learn what makes a fast car? In this activity, you will get to build your own miniature racecars powered by rubber bands, and then race your friends! This demo will introduce you to the concepts of power, torque, friction and types of energy.

    Racing Simulator: Now that you know what makes a car go fast, let's put you behind the wheel! Feel like a real race car driver in the seat of our repurposed 2019 Student Formula chassis. Take a lap on a famous track like the pros do, learn how to navigate corners and compete to set the fastest lap time in our realistic racing rig!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Tallest Tower Tournament

    Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

    Test your building skills using magnetic tiles and create the tallest and strongest tower! Top the previous high score and win a delicious prize.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2001

    Seismic Shakedown

    Mechanical Contractors Association

    Using provided silly putty and straws, participants will create their own structure with the putty holding together joints. Then, their structures will be placed on the seismic simulator (a folder, ruler and tennis ball apparatus) and shaken down to see what kind of building structures hold up the best during an earthquake event.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2008W

    Unplugged Coding with Origami

    Girls Who Code 

    Learn about one of the most fundamental parts of coding: Algorithms. Follow the provided algorithm to create your very own origami art! Learn how to debug your algorithm if you miss a step in your creation, or create your own algorithm to create a new origami piece!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Main lobby near stairs

    Water Puzzles

    Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Engineering Program

    Explore the magic of a water surface by building shapes from 3D-printed building blocks.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda

  • Afternoon Session: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

    Amateur Radio 

    In times of disaster, when regular communications channels fail, ham radio operators can swing into action to assist emergency efforts and work with public service agencies. Amateur radio operators make friends around the world and can even communicate with astronauts on the International Space Station.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 2001

    Arduino Projects Exhibit

    Engineering Design Division 

    Investigate interactive projects built by our student teams using Arduino, an open-source prototyping platform. Projects include Bop-it, Horse Race, Maze Runner, Reaction Time Tester, Simon Says, Text Adventure and Whack-a-Mole.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 2001

    Bottle Rocket Launcher

    American Society of Mechanical Engineers

    Build and launch rockets into the sky using pressure.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda/COE Link

    Build-an-Ear Workshop

    Biomedical Engineering Society

    Ever wonder why ears look the way they do? Explore the science of sounds by building ear trumpets and listening to your favorite tunes! You will also learn about sound waves, ear shapes and the history of hearing aids. Be sure to use quiet voices!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2008E

    Create a Phone Using a Cup and String

    Theta Tau (Professional Engineering Fraternity) 

    Ever wondered how sound works? Build your own string-and-cup phone to talk to your friends while learning how sound travels!

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: COE Multipurpose Room

    Drive the Mars Rover

    Binghamton University Rover Team

    Check out our Mars Rover Prototype! Learn about all our subsystems and how we apply engineering principles to design, prototype and build a functioning rover. We are looking for some skilled pilots to help test drive the rover and help us make additions. You can also enter our raffle to win the naming rights to our rover!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Egg Drop

    Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineering Honor Society) 

    Design a device that will protect an egg from breaking after a high fall! Use various supplies to create and test your design! Some ideas include using plastic sandwich bags, tape, paper cups, popsicle sticks, cotton balls and balloons. All supplies will be provided. Get creative! Drops will be held at 2:30 and 3:20 p.m.

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: Room 2008W

    Electromagnetic Silent Disco

    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

    Our dance floor uses electromagnetic fields instead of sound. You can wind a loop of wire and attach it to a pair of earbuds so that you can hear the music when you hop on the dance floor. We'll show you some moves that illustrate how the fields work.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Seymour Kunis Media Core, Room 2303

    Elephant Toothpaste

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Elephant toothpaste is a foamy substance caused by the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using potassium iodide or yeast and warm water as a catalyst. How rapidly the reaction proceeds will depend on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda/COE Link

    Fighting Bot Matches and Simple 3D Printing Lesson

    Watson Combat Robotics League

    Check out a live WCRL competition between two fighting robots — only one will remain! Plus, learn about 3D printing and take home a little 3D printed figurine.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Float Your Boat

    Alpha Pi Mu

    Can you float your boat? Work with popsicle sticks, tape, string and paper to craft your ideal boat, then test it out! How many coins can it hold?

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school,

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Generate Electricity from Wind

    Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers

    Ever seen those giant wind turbines in the mountains? Did you know they supply power to your house? Join us to create you very own wind turbine generator!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Room 1006

    Leonardo Da Vinci Popsicle Stick Bridge

    Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Society of Women Engineers

    Help us to create a bridge of any shape or size using popsicle sticks.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school 

    Location: 2nd floor above registration

    Make Your Own Lava Lamps

    American Society for Engineering Education

    Do you want to learn about density? Stop by our station to create your very own lava lamp! Choose what color you want and watch a super-cool reaction happen right in front of your eyes.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Marshmallow Catapult Skee-Ball

    Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society) 

    Think you can build the best catapult? Customize your own marshmallow launcher with three simple materials: popsicle sticks, rubber bands and a spoon! Put your device to the test with our skee-ball competition!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Room 1304

    Mechanical Combat

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Participants will make fun catapults and compete for prizes.

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: Room 2008W

    Model Spine

    Alpha Eta Mu Beta

    Make an easy spine model by using home items and learn how the spine works!

    Age group: Elementary school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Oobleck Pool

    Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

    Is oobleck a solid or liquid? Come join us to find out how oobleck is more than just slime and can be liquid and solid. You’ll get to see how it is made and get to feel it in both its states.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda

    Paper Circuits

    Watson College Scholars Program

    Create little paper circuits that allow you to draw a picture and then incorporate small LED lights using a very basic-level circuit (some wire and a tiny battery).

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Hallway near 1006

    Paper Crafts with LED Circuits

    Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Honor Society)

    Brighten up your paper crafts with LED circuits! Design your own card or paper creation and add LED lights through a battery-powered circuit. Take it home as a gift or decorate your room with your own circuit creation.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway near 1006

    Pasta and Marshmallow Towers

    Alpha Omega Epsilon

    Come build a pasta and marshmallow tower! Test the strength of different pasta shapes and try to build the tallest skyscraper.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: COE Hallway below Multipurpose Room

    Rocket Challenge

    National Society of Black Engineers

    Participants will work in teams to build an Alka-Seltzer rocket that can carry a payload of clay and hit a target several feet away.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2008E

    Round and Round - Build an Electric Motor

    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

    Build a simple electric motor out of a battery, a magnet, and some wire and paper clips! Using basic principles of electromagnetics, watch as your wire coil spins up like a real motor. After you are done, you have your own electric motor to take home and play with!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda

    Rubber-Band Racers and SuperCar Driving Simulator

    Society of Automotive Engineers

    Rubber Band Racers: Want to learn what makes a fast car? In this activity, you will get to build your own miniature racecars powered by rubber bands, and then race your friends! This demo will introduce you to the concepts of power, torque, friction and types of energy.

    Racing Simulator: Now that you know what makes a car go fast, let's put you behind the wheel! Feel like a real race car driver in the seat of our repurposed 2019 Student Formula chassis. Take a lap on a famous track like the pros do, learn how to navigate corners and compete to set the fastest lap time in our realistic racing rig!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Rotunda

    Secret Messages

    Women in Tech

    Test your problem-solving skills by encrypting and decrypting secret messages! Make your own secret message codes to give to your friends and family to solve.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Hallway by 1414

    Tallest Tower Tournament

    Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

    Test your building skills using magnetic tiles and create the tallest and strongest tower! Top the previous high score and win a delicious prize.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Room 2001

    Unplugged Coding with Origami

    Girls Who Code 

    Learn about one of the most fundamental parts of coding: Algorithms. Follow the provided algorithm to create your very own origami art! Learn how to debug your algorithm if you miss a step in your creation, or create your own algorithm to create a new origami piece!

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school, high school

    Location: Main lobby near stairs

    Water Puzzles

    Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Engineering Program

    Explore the magic of a water surface by building shapes from 3D-printed building blocks.

    Age groups: Elementary school, middle school

    Location: Rotunda

Sponsors

Thank you to all those who support Watson College's Engineers Week!

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