The L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science is teaming up with engineering organizations on campus to celebrate National Engineer’s Week at Syracuse University, which kicks off Saturday with a flight simulator event that is open to the entire university for the first time.

Erin Conklin, the president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, at SU, said L.C. Smith students are aware of engineer’s week, but not everyone at SU knows what’s going on.

“We wanted to open it up so the whole university knows engineering week occurs and engineering is a thing here at Syracuse,” Conklin said.

The National Society of Professional Engineers started National Engineer’s Week nationally in 1951. Julie Hasenwinkel, associate dean for student affairs at L.C. Smith, said the week will be celebrated Feb. 15 to Feb. 23 with various events run by engineering students on campus.

She added that one of the main goals this year for celebrating National Engineer’s Week on campus is to raise the university’s awareness about what is happening in SU’s engineering programs.

“It’s meant to highlight work that we do and its positive impact on society and our quality of life,” Hasenwinkel said. “In our society, especially as we become more and more technologically advanced, everyone is using things and becoming increasingly dependent on the work of engineers.”

Conklin, also a junior aerospace engineering and psychology major, said AIAA will run the flight simulator event Saturday and Sunday in 213 Link Hall. Students will be able to sign up for time slots, during which they will spend 15 minutes learning about how to operate the flight simulator and then use the flight simulator for 15 minutes to practice flying over the Syracuse area, she said.

The flight simulator, which is used throughout the year for engineering classes, can be used to log training hours toward a pilot license, Hasenwinkel said.

Conklin said time slots for both the entire student body and L.C. Smith students will open on Tuesday morning.

“It’s probably one of the most popular events of the semester (at L.C. Smith),” she said, adding that when the event is held every semester, appointments typically fill up within 24 hours.

Kevin Spector, a freshman aerospace engineering major and member of AIAA, said he hopes the flight simulator will help to bring more recognition to aerospace engineering at SU.

“This is definitely a program that will get people’s attention,” Spector said.

Hasenwinkel also said there will be other activities during the week, such as a gingerbread house challenge run by civil engineers, a demonstration by chemical engineering students of a ChemE car which runs on chemical reactions and a learning community egg toss competition.

Conklin said the AIAA will also host a paper airplane golf tournament on Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. Students will create a paper airplane to throw through holes to test their design of the airplane and how well they can toss it, she said.

“I think Engineer’s Week is a really good thing,” Conklin said. “It gives engineers some downtime events through the week and is fun for non-engineers who don’t know about the week.”

Matt Fox, a freshman computer engineering major, said from the e-mails he has received from school officials the event seems like it will be enjoyable for both engineering and non-engineering students.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Fox said. “We do a lot of work here, and it’s great to recognize engineers and what we do for the school — it’s a lot more than people think.”

Published on February 10, 2014 at 1:09 am

Contact Kristen: kaeskow@syr.edu