Engineering Open House, the largest student-run STEM fair in the Midwest, was held at the University on April 5-6, drawing large crowds of guests of all ages to campus.
EOH is run by the Engineering Council, providing support to engineering RSOs and hosts a variety of events, including the Engineering Outreach Bureau and E-week.
“We attract 50,000 visitors from all over Illinois,” said Paymon Sadat, senior in Engineering and co-director of EOH. “We have around 200 students that exhibit over 20 different special events, including robotics competitions, car demos (and) rocket launchers.”
Additional events included a startup showcase pitch competition, design competitions, keynote speakers and panels for prospective students, Sadat added.
Ken Wooldridge, Urbana resident and University employee, attended EOH with his 11-year-old granddaughter and her elementary school.
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“It’s a great event,” Wooldridge said. “Especially for … younger students that have aspirations of doing something like this in the future.”
Erin Kinkle and Thomas Kennedy, engineers and University alumni, exhibited for John Deere. The company is one of many corporate sponsors of EOH, among Caterpillar, Abbot, Hendrick House and more.
“We’re showcasing sprayer nozzles that can be individually controlled to precisely apply chemicals such as herbicide and fertilizer,” Kinkle said. “It’s foundational to our spraying technology, which uses AI and vision systems to identify weeds in a field.”
“We’re passionate about inspiring the next generation to both come to University of Illinois, but also to eventually come work for John Deere as well,” Kennedy added. “STEM is one of our passions, both as individuals and as a company.”
James and Brandon Haran have attended EOH since Brandon was five years old. Haran graduated from the University in 1997 from Grainger.
“We’ve been coming down every year for EOH (to) see what’s new and check out what has changed over the years, “ Haran said.
Brandon said his favorite parts about the tradition include the cotton candy, cement crusher and physics experiments. This fall, he will attend the University as a freshman in Engineering.
According to Rohini Ramesh, senior in Engineering and co-director of EOH, one of the event’s main goals is to promote engineering and impact the lives of attendees. In her role as co-director, Ramesh said she has evolved as a leader.
“I think a lot of the times when we do things in leadership positions, we don’t realize the impact that it might have on others,” Ramesh said. “EOH has really taught me every decision or action that we make is going to affect a position on our committee or somebody out there.”
Sadat cited the EOH team for their hard work in making the event so successful. This year, the EOH committee funded five underprivileged schools to attend EOH.
“I really hope that in the future, this effort to have even more students come down and learn about engineering continues,” Ramesh said.
