'Everyone welcome' in 44 Engineering organizations
The annual College of Engineering clubs showcase gives students a chance to connect with peers who share interests, but not necessarily majors.
At the Sept. 10, 2024 event, leaders from each club gathered in the University of Arizona Bear Down Gym with similar goals: primarily, increase community work and interdisciplinary membership.
That message was heard loud and clear from the Student Mine Rescue Team, a recently revitalized organization that trains its members to simulate mine rescue drills in the San Xavier Underground Mine.
“Rescue is why I wanted to go into mining engineering,” said club President Carter Brown. “In the big industries that keep our country running, it's important that people who supply the things we need every day go home safe.”
Brown, a mining senior, said the Rescue Team trains with breathing apparatuses, spending about four hours underground mapping the mine.
And the club is not limited to mining majors. Engineers of all types can volunteer to join a mine rescue team if they meet training requirements.
The club also joins the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, & Exploration meetings to connect members with job opportunities.
Collaboration like this is heavily emphasized in the college’s 44 engineering clubs, and it goes beyond academic disciplines.
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) President Cassidy Little said clubs that support underrepresented students will join forces this year to plan the first collaborative cornhole tournament.
“We are doing a joint event to learn about the other clubs so we can build a bigger community,” said the biomedical engineering senior.
Professional clubs like NSBE; the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; and Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics celebrate diversity and help students cross the commencement stage. In fact, the national graduation rate for engineering students who are not in SHPE is estimated at 50% compared with 87% of SHPE members.
Design, build and bond
“This club is amazing for building your technical experience, and it’s an amazing way to get your foot in the door with companies,” said American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Secretary Aidan Fritzler. AIAA is a professional club that focuses on rocket building.
Along with six other cub members, Fritzler and Noah Clark, both aerospace and mechanical engineering sophomores, traveled to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to compete in the summer 2024 Spaceport America Cup – the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket competition.
The UA students built and launched a solid fuel rocket named Fire Hazard. They placed 49 out of 102 teams. On top of participating in hands-on engineering, they met industry employers.
“There were representatives from Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin,” Clark said.
On their downtime, club members bonded over sci-fi movies like Dune, which spontaneously led to a White Sands National Park fieldtrip.
“Very similar to the Planet Arrakis,” Fritzler laughed.
“We got carried away with the movie,” Clark said. “We just threw ourselves and rolled down the dunes.”
Another rocket club plans to compete in its own competition next summer – hoping to return with memories and a title.
The Wildcat Rocket Engineering Club (WREC) fuels with liquids. Solid rockets – such as AIAA’s Fire Hazard – are like fireworks, whereas liquid rockets use isopropyl alcohol or nitrous oxide as fuel, which can be dangerous.
“There are only a few places, legally, we can launch this,” said club Secretary Etan Grant.
WREC will compete next summer in California’s Friends of Amateur Rocketry – Oxidizers Uninhibited Tournament (FAR-OUT) with its rocket Sonoran Wildcat. The club hopes to defeat its competitors using a secret weapon – members with varying skillsets.
“We have mechanical engineering students for launch rails, aerospace for the rockets, and electrical and computer is important for rocket tracking,” Grant said. “We even have artists to paint the rocket; everyone is welcome.”