EngWeek Brings Engineering Students to Concordia for Troitsky Competition

NewsJane Lakes — Published March 2, 2015 | Updated March 3, 2015 at 4:10am

The events, organized by Concordia’s Engineering and Computer Science Association (ECA), runs until March 8 and are open to all undergraduate students. Students can grab free breakfast, listen to guest speaker Nick Zacchia, stop by Society Day and see the much-awaited Troitsky Competition.

“Anyone can go and check the [competition] out, and it’s really interesting and really cool to see the teams working,” said event organizer Mohamed Hedi. “It’s really important for us […] to have these kinds of events where [students] can join together and meet other people.”

With over 200 students from universities across the country scheduled to attend, the 31st Annual Troitsky Bridge Building Competition is set to be one of the highlights of the week according to Michael Davila, VP Internal at the ECA.

The bridges, which are made of popsicle sticks, toothpicks, dental floss and Elmer’s glue, “have actually broken our crushing machine because they’re so strong,” said Davila. “It just speaks to how well they’re engineered.”

Concordia alumni and guest speaker Nick Zacchia will also be an integral part of EngWeek, explained Davila. Having helped build an electron accelerator while studying mechanical engineering at Concordia, Zacchia has since gone on to follow a successful career in the field, including speaking at a TEDx kids event.

Zacchia’s talk on Thursday will cover opportunities in engineering for students that are finishing up at Concordia.

Ending with a ceremony and awards on Sunday, EngWeek gives engineering students a lot to look forward to, according to the organizers.

“I think it’s important to show the rest of the school exactly what engineers do,” said Davila. “There’s something to said about people in engineering and people who love what they do and love to share what they do.”