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Inventive young minds representing nine Atlantic universities convened upon Dalhousie over the weekend for the 31^st Atlantic Engineering Competition (AEC). Competition was fierce as 100-plus engineering students competed in teams or individually, representing Dal, Acadia, CBU, MUN, SMU, St. FX, Moncton, UNB and UPEI.

The competition allows engineering student to showcase their skills and resourcefulness and leverage non-technical skills, such as teamwork, leadership and creativity. Students tackle various real-world engineering issues, debating divisive topics, redesigning existing technology for novel applications or addressing problem scenarios with inventive new gadgets.

Competitors vied to qualify for the national-level Canadian Engineering Competition, where 150 regional winners will compete once again at Memorial University. Competitors were judged by a panel consisting of individuals from both industry and academics.

Results:

Category: Senior Team Design

Third, fourth and fifth year students were presented with a real-world scenario, a week to research the problem and 12 hours to implement their solution on competition day.

·       1^st place: Moncton 2 (Gabriel Boudreau, Benoit Leblanc, Phillip Robichaud, Jeremie Gallant)

·       2^nd place: Dal 1 (Ben Feltmate, Brendon Colwill, Madeline Baldissera, Jared Mills)

·       3^rd place: MUN 2 (Keisha Chin-Yet, Courtney Murrin, Justin Simms, Nick Mathias)

Category: Junior Team Design

First and second year students were presented with a real-world scenario and had only four hours and limited resources to reach a solution.

·       1^st place: MUN 2 (Sarah white, Jillian Oldford, Julia Colins, Julia Sullivan)

·       2^nd place: SMU 1 (Jeff Lewis, Peter Svidler, Tristan Cayaoyao, Samantha Higgins)

·       3^rd place: Dal 1 (Jonathan Perrier-Daigle, Jordan Wilbur, Graeme Kempthrone, Sydney Miller)

Category: Innovative Design

Students in this category addressed a problem of their choice, conducting market research and feasibility studies to arrive at a viable product complete with a business proposal.

·       1^st place: MUN (Meghan McGee, Halie Murrin)

·       2^nd place: Dal (Guanxiong Gong, Stephen Chandler)

·       3^rd place: UNB (Keith Mackin, Sam Guitard, Brandon Craib)

Category: Consulting Engineering

Teams had five hours to remedy the real-world problems and present their proposal to a hypothetical client.

·       1^st place: UNB A (Jonathan Kummer, Isaac Venneman, Brent Woodside, Tori Hasson)

·       2^nd place: SMU (Sally Chedraoi, Olivia Ells, Martha Barrett, Luis Orozco)

·       3^rd place: MUN B (Ian Mullet, James MacDonald, Luke Tilley, Evan Tilley)

Category: Communications

Contestants needed to clearly and concisely explain a technical subject in layperson’s terms; a feat that can prove both challenging and necessary for engineers.

·       1^st place: UNB (Eric Root)

·       2^nd place: Dal (Kaitlin Miles, Elliot Winfield)

·       3^rd place: MUN  (Courtney Harnum, Zachary Burt)

Category: Debate

A team of two presented a solid viewpoint of a topic presented to them shortly before the event.

·       1^st place: St. FX (Carson Murray, Patrick LeClair)

·       2^nd place: MUN B (Joshua Abeling, Paul Stewart)

·       3^rd place: MUN A (James Greey, Alex Collins)

Category: Re-engineering

Teams redesigned an existing process or gadget for novel applications or improved functionality.

·       1^st place: MUN 1 (Erin Lundrigan, Richard Bonnell)

·       2^nd place: St. FX (Margaret Boyd, Joseph Deering)

·       3^rd place: UNB 2 (Johanna McPhee, Joshua Triggs)

Competitors go head to head in trivia for their first test to prove intellectual prowess. (Photo: Atlantic Engineering Competition)