South Dakota Mines Celebrates 44th Annual Engineers Week
The 2021 Engineers Week will be celebrated virtually at South Dakota Mines Feb. 16-20, with free online events for the campus community, area students and the general public. This year includes a unique live tour of a particle accelerator at Sanford Underground Research Facility, a chemistry magic show and more.
The celebration of Engineers Week at Mines kicks off at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, with the STEAM Café presentation Unexpected Wonders from the Vast Unknown: Images from the Hubble Space Telescope by Tom Durkin, deputy director of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium. This event will be held virtually here and in person with limited seating available at Hay Camp Brewing Company.
Several 2021 Engineering Week events are held during school hours so classroom teachers and students who are learning from home can log in and take part in interactive and virtual events. For those who are unable to watch the events live, the videos will all be available on the university's YouTube page following their premieres.
Throughout the week, sneak peeks of the American Chemical Society's annual chemistry magic show will be shared on the university's social media platforms. A full video presentation will premiere on the university's YouTube site at 10 a.m. MT on Friday, Feb. 19. The very popular STEM-based magic show feature students in Mines' chemistry, biology, and health sciences department who conduct exciting experiments that create colorful smoke and flames.
2021 Engineers Week activities also include an opportunity to take part in a live virtual tour of a unique experiment running 4,850 feet below the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).
At 9 a.m. MT on Thursday, Feb. 18, astrophysicist Mark Hanhardt, a Ph.D. candidate at Mines and an experiment support scientist at SURF, will lead a live tour of the Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research (CASPAR). Participants will be able to ask questions in real time and get a look at the low-energy particle accelerator that allows researchers to study processes that take place inside collapsing stars. Those who wish to take part can register for the live Zoom here. Anyone who can't join the live feed can find a recording on the university and Sanford Lab Facebook pages.
On Friday, Feb. 19, 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 virtually starting at 4 p.m. MT and will feature Rob Hall, Ph.D., head of the Department of Mining Engineering and Management as the keynote speaker.
In addition to the above Engineers Week activities at Mines and SURF, Youth in Science Rapid City (YISRC) is preparing activity packs connected to the film Dream Big. The packs include a copy of the movie, lesson plan, and supplies for a grade appropriate, hands-on activity. The packs are free and available for teachers, classrooms, and organizations in Rapid City to reserve. Email YISRC for more information.
To learn more about 2021 Engineers Week activities at South Dakota Mines, visit here.