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Community Corner

Chicagoland celebrates Engineering Industry

Students and professionals throughout the engineering profession recently celebrated Chicagoland Engineers. The celebration consisted of student competitions and ended with an awards banquet celebrating the achievements in the field of engineering as well as honoring Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Christopher B. Burke, PhD, PE, D.WRE, Dist.M.ASCE, President of Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd, served as chairman of this year’s Chicagoland Engineers Week Steering Committee.

“This is always an exciting week in engineering.  It is a great opportunity to honor those in our profession and encourage the younger generation to continue their interest in engineering,” Burke said. “This week allows us to take a moment to reflect on the progress and contributions of our engineering profession.”

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Burke has served as chairman for the last nine years but encouraging students has been a lifelong passion. He has been a Professor of Practice at UIC since 2002 and has spoken to numerous grade school and high school students about Civil Engineering.

UIC Dean of Engineering Peter Nelson and Farhad Ansari, the head of the Civil and Materials Engineering Department, were also in attendance.

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“Teaching today’s engineering students is a rewarding job. The level of energy and enthusiasm in the engineering classroom is overwhelming.  It is inspiring to see the future of engineering,” Burke said.

This year William S. Nye, “Bill Nye the Science Guy”, was honored with the 2014 Washington Award at the Palmer House Hilton for fostering a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work.

The celebration also incorporated a range of competitions, discussions and expos. The following students placed in their competitions and had the opportunity to attend the awards banquet.

In the “Future City” competition, St. Paul of the Cross in Park Ridge took home first place with Franklin Middle School in Wheaton and McClure Junior High School in Western Springs winning second and third places. Winners of the essay/poster contest were Tessa Fryer, Emmy Hong and Kaylie Mei (4th Grade, Stem Magnet School), Adam Asfour (3rd Grade, Universal School), Alex Liang (5th Grade, Stem Magnet School), Elizabeth Brahin (5th Grade, Ogden International School of Chicago) and Mohammad Asfour (7th Grade, Universal School).

In the FIRST Robotics competition the following teams won for their accomplishments: FRC Robotics Team – Team Hammond, Hammond, Ind;  FTC Robotics Team – got robot?, Elgin;  and FLL Robotics Team – Moovers from Long Grove. 





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