The Queen’s Engineering Competition (QEC) every year at this time provides an opportunity for students of Queen’s Engineering to showcase their problem-solving skills, test their mettle, and innovate at the intensive two-day event. The competition this year will also serve as the kickoff for a long-term collaboration with an internationally renowned artist.
The multi-faculty collaboration will be announced officially next week, and QEC participants will be the first on campus to learn the name of a TED Prize and Governor General’s Award-winning artist who will work with the university on a new major project. Participants will be part of an elite group of students and faculty who will help the artist conceptualize a new and massive piece of public art that will require engineering innovation to achieve.
“Queen’s Engineering Competition stands to enrich the education of undergraduate engineering students by allowing them to showcase their skills in a hands-on environment that fosters creativity and ingenuity,” says Jane Cohen-Wallis, Sc’24, a co-chair of the event. “Being able to work with this internationally acclaimed artist will be an incredible opportunity to elevate the competition and provide students with the opportunity to take their innovation to another level.”
The annual event allows students in engineering to compete in a variety of engineering competition categories, and utilize skills developed in the classroom for visiting industry partners. Challenges are multi-disciplinary and accessible to students of all years in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. The conference style case competition is divided into eight challenges of the type engineers encounter every day:
The winners of each category are selected to compete at the Ontario Engineering Competition, where they compete for cash prizes and a chance to attend the Canadian Engineering Competition. Judges for this year’s challenges include industry professionals, representatives from companies that champion the engineering industry such as Pure Ingenuity and Deloitte, and key members from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s. (Students interested to participate in this year's event can register here).
Winners of the 2021 Queen’s Engineering Competition moved on to the Ontario Engineering Competition where they placed first in Programming and Debate, second in Junior Design, and second in Senior Design.
