Competition Rules

Engineers Day has been a UT College of Engineering tradition for over 100 years. Each October, engineering classes are dismissed for one day to allow university students and faculty to spend time interacting with hundreds of potential engineering students from high schools across the region.

This year, close to 1,200 students from 55 different high schools (and several home schoolers) traveled to UT's Knoxville campus to explore and learn about the various aspects of engineering through discussions, project demonstrations and exhibits prepared by UT engineering student clubs and societies. Next year's participants will once again get an overview of the different engineering disciplines and see examples of how an engineer's work impacts daily life. It is our goal that your students' involvement in Engineers Day will inspire their interest in the ever-growing field of engineering.

One of the more popular events during Engineers Day is the Quiz Bowl competition sponsored by Tau Beta Pi (the National Engineering Honor Society). To register a team, fill out the appropriate section of the Registration Form page.

Another fun and exciting part of the day is the annual High School Balsa Wood Bridge Competition sponsored by the UT Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Schools are encouraged to participate by constructing miniature balsa wood bridges and bring them to Engineers Day to be tested for structural efficiency. Download the Balsa Wood Bridge rules and regulations.

The Egg Drop Competition is sponsored by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Materials Advantage student chapter, and student chapter of the Society of Plastic Engineers. The objective of this event is to design a device that will protect a "free range" grade A egg from breaking when dropped. Download the Egg Drop rules and regulations.

The Food Battery Competition is sponsored by the University of Tennessee, Materials Research Society (MRS), Student Chapter. This competition provides an opportunity for young minds to find better solutions so that we can make emissions-free transportation possible with small, light and high power delivery batteries available to us. This competition serves as a reminder of pressing technological needs that require students to start by getting involved early in seeking feasible solutions that will cause no further harm to our environment. Download the Food Battery rules and regulations.

The Radiation Shielding Competition is sponsored by the American Nuclear Society. A radiation shield, simply put, is anything that blocks radiation from an intended target. It can do this by absorbing the energy from the radiation. As unstable elements decay, they typically release some sort of radiation. These can be in the form of particles (alpha, beta, ect…) or in the form of photons (gamma rays, ect…). In this competition, we consider gamma radiation from a laboratory source. Gamma rays are high energy photons speeding through matter until they collide with it. When a gamma ray collides, it deposits energy into the matter. Because gamma rays are so penetrating, it's possible to detect them through other matter (walls, floors, ect...). By using a detector (a device that recognizes incident radiation) we can tell where radiation is coming from. Download the Radiation Shielding rules and regulations.