The Atlantic Engineering Competition 2024, by Emilie Reid
On January 19th, 2024, engineering students from across the Atlantic region began their journey to Fredericton, New Brunswick, for a weekend to remember. Students prepared themselves for the highly anticipated Atlantic Engineering Competition (AEC) hosted this year by the University of New Brunswick. For Dalhousie competitors, the weather was sunny and just right for the four-hour drive across the border. Students arrived in the city on Friday afternoon to check in to their accommodations and scope out the competition. There wasn't much time to settle in before the opening ceremonies began. The student organizers welcomed over 170 engineering students from Dal, UPEI, StFX, Acadia, UNB, MUN, CBU, and UdeM. Each year, AEC gathers passionate engineering students and offers them an opportunity to showcase their abilities to a panel of judges and to make their universities proud. To kick off the weekend, competitors headed straight out the door to a local Fredericton brewery to enjoy an evening of live music and craft beverages. Students mingled and appreciated the "calm before the storm" as they anticipated a long day of competitions ahead.
The next day, competitors were up bright and early to enjoy a continental breakfast of champions before jumping on the bus straight to UNB campus. A light dusting of snow covered the beautiful red-brick buildings. Competitions took place all across campus, and teams broke into their respective categories. AEC consists of eight competition streams: Consulting, Communications, Extemporaneous Debate, Innovative Design, Re-Engineering, Programming, Junior Design, and Senior Design. The design challenges presented in each category revolved around the theme for this year's event: "Rising with the Tides: Building a Better Atlantic Canada". This theme created a strong focus on improving transportation and infrastructure across the region, and competitors spent the entire day - minus a few interruptions from an unexpected fire alarm - creating creative solutions to relevant engineering issues. The energy and stress levels were high across campus. Design teams raced to finish their prototypes, debaters scrambled to form solid arguments, and communications teams nervously practiced their presentations. Some competitors barely found the time to eat their lunch!
Competitions concluded for the day around 4:30 pm, and students loaded back onto the bus to prepare for the evening's formal banquet. Shockingly, engineering students clean up very nicely. Each team made their way to the beautiful conference centre in downtown Fredericton, where they enjoyed a classy dinner and some inspiring speeches from the UNB faculty and a keynote sponsor. The motivating speakers reminded everyone present why an engineering degree is so valuable and encouraged students to continue solving our region's greatest adversities. To end the night, a 'Red and Black' event was held at the hotel, where competitors tested their gambling skills for a chance to win big (in Monopoly money- of course)!
To conclude the weekend, competitors once again made their way to the UNB campus bright and early. Judging and final testing occurred throughout the morning, and all teams put their best presentation skills forward. Students anxiously awaited their results while trying to make the most of the career fair featuring booths from Irving, Hatch, CBCL, and many more potential employers.
Finally, the closing ceremonies began. Dalhousie's competitors dominated the awards, placing first in five of the competition streams! Congratulations to all Dal-Eng teams who placed in the top three of their category:
1st & 3rd in Senior Design
1st in Junior Design
1st in Consulting
1st in Communications
1st in Debate
3rd in Programming
Five Dalhousie teams will advance to the Canadian Engineering Competition, held by the University of Calgary, in March. Congratulations to all competitors for such an amazing performance, and best of luck at nationals! Go DalEng!