Define the Future at Engineering Open House -- March 11-12

“Define the Future” at Engineering Open House (EOH), the largest student-run event held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This annual event, which attracts more than 20,000 visitors to the Engineering Campus, will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 11 and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 12.

Visitors will be treated to more than 200 interactive student-run exhibits, four design competitions, corporate exhibits of real world engineering, plus entertainment, campus tours, and guest speakers. Visitors of all ages are welcome to participate in this fun and completely free event.

Each year, EOH provides an exciting atmosphere for creative minds of all ages. Check out the wacky Rube Goldberg creations at the High School Design Contest (HSDC) on Friday. Thirty high schools teams from across Illinois will compete to see whose machine can water a plant in the most complicated and innovative way. The HSDC will be held in the Campus Recreation Center-East (CRCE; 1102 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana) from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and will be served by the EOH campus shuttle.

Interested in robotics? This year, 22 robotics teams from five different universities will compete in the AMD Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition at Kenney Gym (1406 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana,). Their challenge—a game of collection played with near weightless Nerf balls. Preliminary rounds take place throughout the day on Friday with the championship match and demolition round closing out the competition on Saturday afternoon.

On Friday evening, EOH will host special guest Jeff Lieberman, roboticist, physicist, musician, photographer, and host of the Discovery Channels’ Time Warp. In his presentation--which will be held in the Foellinger Auditorium on at 7:00 p.m.—Lieberman will show how science is “more than you can imagine,” exploring the connection between the arts, sciences, education, creativity and the potential future of human consciousness. Admission is free, however tickets are required. Tickets will be offered at the Visitors Welcome Center next to the Grainger Engineering Library (at the north end of the Bardeen Quad) every hour on the hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 11. Remaining tickets will be available at the door.

In conjunction with EOH is the Beckman Institute Open House (405 N. Mathews, Urbana), featuring more than 20 exhibits highlighting the work taking place at one of the nation’s leading centers for interdisciplinary research. This year, Beckman’s Open House will have a new look and even some news faces—including Bert, the only iCub humanoid robot in the Western Hemisphere! Visitors can watch Bert emulate the actions of a human toddler; learn how fish are teaching us about the workings of our brains; and touch a Braille sculpture designed by a visually impaired student to teach the visually impaired about mathematics. Also back this year are the popular and renowned tools of Beckman’s Illinois Simulator Laboratory, including traveling versions of the CAVE, the Driving Simulator, the Flight Simulator, and the Motion Capture Suite. The Beckman Café will also be open for meals, snacks and, beverages. For more information, visit the Beckman Web site at www.beckman.illinois.edu.

Because the University is in session, limited on-street parking is available on Friday; most parking lots will be available on Saturday. Download EOH Mobile, the web-based application designed for your iPhone, iPod Touches, Android, or Blackberry mobile smart phones and gain access to information about exhibits at: http://eoh.cen.uiuc.edu, or find EOH on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/eoh2011!
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Contact: Fang Wan, director of external marketing, Engineering Open House 217/898-5701,

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.