MC4West Outreach Program

The MAE Center collaborated with UIUC College of Engineering MC4West Outreach Program and the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology, hosting 40 seventh grade student's from the Chicago public schools on October 10, 2005 for a day of learning about engineering and engineering majors. The students participated in team building activities focused on civil engineering. They used the structural engineering concepts learned in the Mc4West Saturday Academy to evaluate the best engineered water towers. Load and stability were the characteristics that the students used in their evaluation. The students evaluated six water tower models for load and stability before the models were placed on a small scale shaketable and loading machine to determine the best design. The winning tower was able to hold 46.2 times its own weight.