South Dakota Mines Celebrates 45th Annual Engineers Week

For 45 years, South Dakota Mines has invited middle school students to campus in February to learn about the fields of science and engineering. The 2022 Engineers Week will be held Feb. 22-25 with free events for the campus community, area students, and the general public. See Engineers Week highlights in this video.
 
Engineers Week was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951. The NSPE website states that Engineers Week “is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.”

The week kicks off with the Mines Chemistry Magic Show on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. This free event is so popular that it has outgrown the Mines campus and moved to the Performing Arts Center of Rapid City at 601 Columbus Street. Mines students with the university chapter of the American Chemical Society will present science-based demonstrations. This event is free and open to the public and presented as part of the Performing Arts Center's annual family series.  

On Wednesday, Feb. 23, participants can join the Center for Alumni Relations and Advancement (CARA) at Mines for their fourth annual Student/Alumni Trivia Night. Click here for more information on this virtual event.

Mines will also host more than 550 middle and high school students for Engineering & Science Day on Thursday, Feb. 24. The day begins with demonstrations by academic departments held across campus and the Chemistry Magic Show in room 2228 of the Chemical & Biological Engineering and Chemistry Building (CBEC) from 9 a.m. to noon. The shows will feature members of the university's chemistry, biology, and health sciences department along with students from the American Chemical Society conducting exciting experiments that create colorful smoke and flames. Students can also enjoy a lunchtime music concert and an afternoon talk on NASA's space telescopes.

On Friday, Feb. 25, Engineers Week activities conclude with the annual Order of the Engineer induction ceremony. The Order fosters a spirit of responsibility and pride in the profession of engineering. This year's Order of the Engineer induction will take place in the Surbeck Ballroom on the Mines campus starting at 4 p.m.

Highlights of E-Week are as follows:

Tuesday, February 22

Mines Chemistry Magic Show 
6-7 p.m., Performing Arts Center of Rapid City - 601 Columbus Street  
Join students from our chapter of the American Chemical Society for an explosive Chemistry Magic Show! This event is free and open to the public. It is presented as part of the Performing Arts Center's annual family series. View the program on Zoom here.

Wednesday, February 23

Virtual Student/Alumni Trivia 
6-7:30 p.m.
Join Mines' Center for Alumni Relations and Advancement (CARA) for their fourth annual student/alumni trivia night! Click here for more information.

Thursday, February 24

Engineering & Science Day Campus Tours
9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Various academic departments and student organizations will host presentations around campus, including the chemistry magic show. 

Lunchtime Music Concert
Noon-1 p.m., Mines Music Center
The music department will host a special Engineers Week concert in the Music Center. 

NASA Presentation: Journey Through the University with NASA's Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes 
1-2 p.m., Surbeck Center Ballroom
For the past 31 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has continued to provide the world with fantastic views of cosmic wonders never before seen by the human eye. Join Tom Durkin, deputy director of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, on a journey through space via Hubble's beautiful images of the universe - the sun and planets of our solar system, exploding stars and nebulae within our own Milky Way Galaxy and then beyond toward galaxies far, far away. NASA's newest flagship telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope that launched on Christmas day, will also be described.

Friday, February 25      

Order of the Engineer Initiation
4:00 p.m., Surbeck Center Ballroom
Click here for details.