February 2012 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 27 February to 4 March as part of National Engineers Week. As part of the line-up NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute and College of Engineering and Informatics will host a free family-event.  Taking place at St Nicholas Church in Galway City on Saturday, 3 March from 11am to 5pm, Connecting our Lives promises to be a great day out for everyone, with activities to suit all ages.

Speaking about engineering and Engineers Week, Professor Gerry 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. 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.”

At the one day family event, visitors will be able to take part in hands-on experiments, workshops, and demonstrations. Each activity will explore the engineering behind many aspects of our lives including sustainable building and living, transport, water pollution and treatment, and electricity. 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 more. 

Speaking about the Connecting our Lives event, Professor Colin Brown, Director of the Ryan Institute for Environmental, Marine and Energy Research, said: “Every aspect of how we live is connected by Engineering, and it’s an area that is becoming more and more important as we are looking to a future where we need to think about how we can build, live and play more sustainably.  Each year this event is sure to be a good pick for a fun, family-friendly day out, with visitors walking away with a much better understanding of the role of Engineering in our lives.”

Connecting our Lives is part of National Engineers Week, which aims to showcase the diversity of engineering and to celebrate the role of engineers in Ireland. Other NUI Galway events being hosted during National Engineers Week include guided tours of the recently opened €40million Engineering Building at NUI Galway and a series of free lunchtime concerts provided by the staff and students of the College of Engineering and Informatics. The event will also provide an opportunity for secondary school pupils to meet practicing engineers and IT specialists at the ‘Explore Engineering and Technology’ event, a show called ‘It’s all done with Mirrors’ for primary school pupils which explores the science and technology behind many self working magic tricks, as well as many more events during Engineers Week.

All of these events are free of charge. For more information on these and other events visit www.engineersweek.ie.

For further information on Connecting our Lives contact Sarah Knight, Outreach Officer, Ryan Institute for Environmental, Marine and Energy Research, NUI Galway at 091 495061 or email sarah.knight@nuigalway.ie.

-ENDS-