6
Friday, February 25, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Photo courtesy University Archives
An engineering student displayed an X-ray machine at the 1952 Engineering Expo.
928 Mass.
Downtown
The Etc. Shop
By Roberta Johnson
Kansan staff writer
Today's Engineering Expo now attracts mostly high school students, but the annual event was once celebrated by the entire University community.
Dale Runner, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, has been involved with the engineering school from 1944 until his retirement last spring. He said the exposition had changed with the times.
A story in the May 2, 1912, Kansan described the second exposition, then known as Engineer's Day.
"The Expo's been up and down in terms of students and their perceptions of what's important," Rummer said.
The room was decorated with white and pea-green trimming. Japanese lanterns shed a subdued light. At one end of the balcony a spot-light was thrown on the dancers as they whirled over the floor.
The exposition will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today in Learned Hall. This year's exhibits will include a missile launcher, portable computer-aided drafting devices and night-vision glasses.
The second Engineer's Day, with its dances and parades, was a tamer celebration than that of the year before.
Exposition has a diverse history
KU engineering students and faculty paraded through campus and through downtown that day. March 31, 1911. When they reached the field the party began.
In a 1948 editorial, the Kansan urged students to attend the event.
Many of the exhibits will involve visitor participation, so you might find yourself doing everything from firing regulation air corps machine guns to sending messages via short wave to anyone in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and England.
Attendance was extremely high during the years after the war, often reaching more than 15,000 people. The exposition included exhibits not only from engineering but from chemistry, architecture, physics, ROTC and the Boy Scouts.
The mining and metallurgical engineering students challenged the mechanical engineering students to a beer-drinking contest, but instead the groups opted to play a baseball game. The evening ended with a dance in Robinson Gymnasium. The orchestra played until midnight, the end of the first Engineer's Day at KU.
World War II cut short the celebration. Enrollment fell at the University, and the exposition was canceled from 1941 to 1948.
The exposition continued that year but was reduced to exhibits and a dance. After the creation of the Kansas Relays, the exposition and the relays were a source of celebration across Kansas. Often the exposition would end in time for the races' finals.
Chancellor Ernest Lindley announced that too many classes had been canceled for celebrations. Faculty members decided that the engineers had not abused this privilege, but the number of events was cut.
students gathered together for parades and dances. In 1923 Engineer's Day was renamed the Engineering Expo, but the change was more than a new name.
On each Engineer’s Day, often a two-day event,
students gathered together for cararades and dances.
The 1994 Engineering Expo take place between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today in Learning Hall.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Engineering Student dunk tank on the west end of the first floor.
Exposition schedule
3: 30 p.m. m.s.; Society of Women Engineers Mr, Engineer contest in room 2002.
Campus walking tour at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
northeast doors
source: Engineering Student Council KANSAN
Mechanical engineering Meet at room 1055 at 10 a.m. 11 a.m. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Mousetrap-powered airplane contest in room 3024
■ Electrical engineering and computer science: Meet at room 1013 to 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
1. 30 p.m.: Insulating Cup competition in room
2022.
Popularity of the exposition fell during the 1960s and 1970s, and both exhibits and attendance dropped.
Architectural engineering; Meet at room 1014 each hour.
Chemical and petroleum engineering; Meet at room 2022 on request.
Aerospace engineering: Meet at room 1022 each hour from 9 a.m. to noon and 1-4 p.m.
Each year the exposition is impacted by changes in technology. The 1957 exposition featured a robot squirrel — about the size of two typewriters
2:200 p.m.: Rue Goldberg contest in room 1055.
2:30 to 3:30 p.m.: Index card tower competition in room 1014.
- that could pick up a ball and move it to a plate.
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