February 2013 NUI Galway Host Free Family Events for National Engineers Week

NUI Galway is calling all wanna-be-engineers to participate in a week of events and activities from 25 February to 3 March as part of National Engineers Week. Engineers Week will provide an opportunity for members of the public of all ages to meet practicing engineers and IT specialists who are creatively using imagination and creativity to envisage the future.

As part of the line-up NUI Galway’s College of Engineering and Informatics and Ryan Institute will host Bringing Dreams to Life, a free family-event for all ages where visitors will be able to take part in hands-on experiments, workshops, and demonstrations. There will be puppets and a lego-build area especially for the young visitors and a display of antique engineering equipment to make the grown-ups feel at home. Highlights of the event will include a K’Nex Bridge Building Contest, an Eco-House Design Challenge, a Renewable Energy Demonstration Station, Water Treatment experiments, Robotics and much more.

Speaking about Engineers Week, Professor Gerard Lyons, Dean of the College of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway, said: “Engineering is an exciting profession. Everything around you has been engineered in some way, yet you may not see the engineers behind the scenes. Engineers take maths and science from the lab to invent, design, and build things that matter. By dreaming up creative and practical solutions, engineers are changing the world all the time. We encourage you to come and explore engineering through cool, fun and exciting demonstrations, meet with practicing engineers and IT specialists, learn about robotics, mobile phone apps, sports engineering, building design, renewable energies, medical implants and much more.”

Transition Year students will be able to participate in a dedicated ‘Youth Enterprise Ideation Camp’. During this two-day camp, students will focus on solving real world challenges using technology. At the end of the camp teams will present their ideas to a professional jury and winners will go forward to a national competition at Intel, Leixlip in April 2013.

Other activities include an interactive engineering show for primary school pupils, ‘Airmazing’, a second-level students event which will re-imagine the works of pioneering Irish Structural Engineer Peter Rice, and an event that will include the local Coderdojo Club.

Additional NUI Galway events being hosted during National Engineers Week includes a public talk on Cyberbulling by Brendan Smith of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at NUI Galway. Brendan will give an overview of the modern phenomena of Cyberbulling from mobile phone texting to online social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and Ask.fm. This presentation will give a brief history of the development of communication technologies, the laws governing harassment by electronic devices and guidelines on Internet Safety.

‘Energising Ireland: What’s the Best Option’ will be the topic for discussion at the 3^rd annual Energy Night which also takes place during National Engineers Week. Experts in the field of Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy and fossil fuels will discuss the best solution to the Irish Energy Crisis.

All of these events are free of charge but booking is essential as spaces are limited. For further information, or to book a place contact Ena Brophy, College of Engineering and Informatics, NUI Galway at 091 492664 or email ena.brophy@nuigalway.ie. For more information on all the events taking place during Engineers Week visit www.nuigalway.ie/engineers-week or www.engineersweek.ie.

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