Engineering-design competition for young students
Seagate volunteers teamed with colleagues from Cisco, Intel, EMC and other technology leaders for the 28th annual Tech Challenge, Silicon Valley’s premier engineering-design competition for young students.
Each challenge always focuses on a real-world problem. Students this year had to design and build structures that could withstand three simulated earthquakes. This year’s event, held on April 25-26 at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, was especially relevant, given the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal just hours before the competition began.
This year Seagate sent 50 volunteers as judges and other event-support personnel. Judges evaluated each team’s entry, examining the structures and talking with team members to better understand their design process—including the students’ brainstorming, testing, applying data analysis to improve prototypes, and final preparations for the event.
“I saw a lot of creativity on display,” said Seagate volunteer Naveen Chhangani, director, product line management, consumer NAS. “Everything these kids did, they did on their own. I was very impressed by their willingness to try new things with their designs.”
The challenge was open to students in the fourth through 12th grades. A total of 600 teams, comprising more than 2,000 students, competed. Students prepared for weeks (in some cases, months) readying their projects, testing and refining their designs until they had built a structure that was—hopefully—earthquake-safe. Teams were also encouraged to express their creativity, through their choice of costumes, building materials and in their engineering journals.
Take a look at the Tech Museum’s highlight reel to get an idea of the simulated earthquakes the students’ structures had to withstand:
Fostering a love for science, creativity and experimentation
Among its many goals, the Tech Museum aims to extend opportunities for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning and experiences to underserved populations. More than 40 percent of the participants were girls, and nearly 40 percent came from low-income communities. Click here for a list of the winning teams.
“These kinds of events can foster an environment where it’s cool to learn and cool to experiment,” said Peter Frisch, a senior program manager, global marketing, at Seagate. “And for some kids, it helps show that technology doesn’t have to be a scary subject.”
Jason Dobbs, a global marketing manager at Seagate, added that the challenge also benefits Seagate and other participating firms by giving them a platform for mentoring tech’s next wave.
“It’s really important for us to be involved in our community and help shape the future for the next generation of innovators,” he said. “These kind of events also can help drive greater brand awareness for Seagate.”
