Camosun College Mechanical Engineering Showcase returns to Interurban for 2016

Campus September 7, 2016

Science is like fire: it changes lives and creates futures. When Prometheus took fire from Olympus, people thought fire was a miracle, and Prometheus was a hero.

In a way, engineering technology is like those ancient myths, because it brings miracles to people’s lives.

For example, 2,000 years ago, people could not believe that they could step into a machine that could get them to other places faster than horses could; the miracle was made through mechanical engineering technology skills.

Camosun College students display their projects at last year’s Mechanical Engineering Showcase event (photo by Camosun College A/V Services).
Camosun College students display their projects at last year’s Mechanical Engineering Showcase event (photo by Camosun College A/V Services).

On September 16, Camosun’s Mechanical Engineering Technology students will display their projects at the Mechanical Engineering Showcase. The event, which has been happening for over 20 years, features 11 projects from student groups.

Camosun Mechanical Engineering Technology instructor James Bartlett is involved in the showcase event this year; he says that what students learn at Camosun in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program will be beneficial for them.

“I think this project will be helpful for these students in their careers,” Bartlett says. “They have chances and opportunities to use these skills that they learn in their program on real engineering applications. The projects covered a wide range of topics, and I think they all have relevance to different parts of engineering.”

There are four or five students in each group; Camosun Mechanical Engineering Technology student Liam Henderson is in a group that designed and created an underwater remotely operated vehicle.

“It was a really, really fun project to work on,” says Henderson. “It’s challenging, which is nice as well.”

Henderson stresses how much fun the students had making the project, and he says that the showcase event offers one last opportunity to get some learning in.

“Having a project gives you a place to display all of the knowledge you learn, and an opportunity to maybe figure out what you did not learn,” he says.

Henderson says that he appreciates what he’s learned in the classrooms of Camosun.

“We’re very interested in the technology that we’re using,” he says. “It’s a lot of electronic, it’s a lot of programming, it’s a lot of mechanical design.”

Camosun Mechanical Engineering Showcase
10 am to 2 pm, Friday, September 16
Centre for Trades Education and Innovation atrium,
Interurban campus
camosun.ca/learn/programs/mechanical-engineering-technology/project-showcase.html