Photo caption: Members of the Dalhousie Organizing Committee for AEC 2023
Atlantic Engineering Competition 2023
By: Emilie Reid
On January 20th, 2023, 170 engineering students from across the Atlantic provinces travelled to Dalhousie Sexton campus to participate in the annual Atlantic Engineering Competition. Dalhousie hosted the competition this year, with 26 hard-working students responsible for organizing and planning every last detail. Dal students from all three campuses competed, along with students from UPEI, UNB, StFX, Memorial, Acadia, SMU, and UdeM. The competition consisted of eight categories: Junior Design, Senior Design, Consulting, Debate, Communications, Programming, Innovative design, and Re-engineering. Dalhousie covered almost every category with 40 competitors and created an ultra-competitive team. Students contested for the opportunity to win a coveted Atlantic scarf and a spot at the 2023 Canadian Engineering Competition hosted by the University of Waterloo in February.
As competitors began to arrive in Halifax, so did the first snowstorm of the season. Perfect timing. Much to the organizing committee's dismay, Dalhousie officials announced “CAMPUS FACILITIES CLOSED”, and thus, the first in-person competition in 2 years had to kick off its opening ceremonies virtually. Nevertheless, the ceremony began with competitors tuning in from their hotel rooms to hear an inspiring speech on the theme of renewable energy from Sapna Natarajan, the chair and a third-year chemical engineering student. Dr. John Newhooke (The Dean of Engineering) also spoke to students and wished them luck throughout the weekend. Students braved the snow and made their way to Alexander Keith's Brewery to finally meet in person and enjoy the evening with some Halifax history, music, food, and drink.
Alarms sounded bright and early at 6 am on Saturday. Competitors filed groggily through the continental breakfast to fuel themselves for the day ahead. After a short sunrise walk through the snow, the competitions were underway at Sexton Campus. Teams broke up into their respective competition sections, and the organizing committee raced around campus, setting things up and directing students. Each competition posed a unique challenge surrounding the theme of renewable energy. One of the most competitive and challenging categories, Senior design, consisted of 3rd, 4th, and 5th-year students tasked with prototyping and locating a hydro dam in Nova Scotia. Students competing in Junior Design could be found in various study rooms designing a mini wind turbine to lift a weight to a certain height with the energy from a hair dryer. Re-engineering competitors brainstormed a method to power the Halifax Harbour Hopper with batteries or to create an off-grid charging station for the e-scooters. Students in the programming competition developed a strategy to generate the greenest and most cost-efficient energy using python script to place solar panels and batteries on a 64x64 grid - not an easy task! Consulting competitors investigated the feasibility of a tidal energy project in the Bay of Fundy. Communications competitors rehearsed their prepared presentations on a technical topic of choice, addressing the environmental, social, and political impacts. Debate competitors went head-to-head on critical energy, ethical, and social issues. Students competed until well into the afternoon, brainstorming and working diligently on their cases. At 4 pm, all 170 students rushed back to the hotel to get fancied up for the banquet, hosted at Pier 21. A night of fine dining, photos, and inspirational speakers ensued. Some chose to dance the night away at the Pacifico Jazz Club downtown before (hopefully) getting a good night's rest.
Sunday was another early start, with students and judges arriving on campus before 8 am. Final presentations, demonstrations, testing, and evaluations for each competition occurred throughout Sexton. Competitors had their game faces on and presented themselves professionally to the judges. Innovative solutions and designs represented the bright ideas of young engineering minds. As the judges deliberated, sponsors filled the Design Commons with booths, and the career fair began. Employees from Actemium, Pathways Alliance, and many more offered their expertise and networking skills to students for the afternoon. Finally, the highly anticipated closing ceremonies began. The results of each competition revealed themselves, gifting students their cash prizes, some stylish atlantic scarves, and for a select few, a spot at CEC 2023. Dalhousie delegates placed exceptionally well, sending a grand total of 16 delegates to the national competition. All in all, the 2023 Atlantic Engineering Competition was an enormous success, leaving those involved inspired and passionate about their degree. Competitors and organizing committee members should be immensely proud of their success. Best of luck to those competing at the national level in Waterloo. Go Dal Eng!