The Saturday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. open house showcases the university’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering through tours of its research facilities, activities and contests for visitors. Speed Student Council sponsors the free, public event celebrating the profession’s many facets. This year’s theme is “Engineering the World of Tomorrow.”
Keynote speaker Jackie Swisher, industrial engineering manager for Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, will talk at 1 p.m. in Room 103, Ernst Hall. Swisher leads a team of 20 industrial engineers for Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort; those operations include six theme parks, two water parks, more than 25 resort hotels and additional restaurants and retail locations. She joined Disney in 2003 after working as a sales and marketing engineer for Siemens Power in Orlando.
Engineering Expo visitors also can:
- tour research and teaching laboratories in Speed School buildings along Eastern Parkway near Third Street, as well as the Shumaker Research Building and Lutz Hall
- check out solar flight models in the Ernst Hall lobby during the morning
- do hands-on activities that show engineering, math and science concepts
- discuss and examine UofL student research projects
- watch high school students compete by testing their pre-built balsa-wood bridges and pingpong ball catapults and by building small robots out of motors, batteries and toothbrush heads
- watch demonstrations, including Speed student-built racing vehicles.
Parking will be available behind J.B. Speed Building off Eastern Parkway near Third Street.