“Engineering” can elicit thoughts of gears, the smell of motor oil, and complex math with longwinded equations. Mechanical engineering Associate Professor Sam Bechara refuses to see it that way.
Engineering, Bechara-style, is battle boats, dolls, and a swimming pool in the atrium of the Scott building.
As a “rebel with a cause,” Bechara is determined to help students see that engineering is fun.
“Engineering curriculum can be very regimented, I used to call it the calculus death march,” Bechara said with a laugh. “You take Calc I, you take Calc II, you take Physics I, you take Physics II, you take Chem I, you take Chem II, you know what I mean? We have all of these classes that are important foundations for the students, but MECH 202 is one of the first opportunities to just make something, which is what engineers do.”
This year, MECH 202 culminated with the class competition Doll’d Up Nautical Knockdown: Where Fashion Meets Splashin’ .
Anchors Aweigh – Competition Preparation
Over the course of the fall semester, more than 20 teams of mechanical engineering students conceptualized, designed, and constructed boats capable of 1) comfortably seating two competition-regulated dolls and 2) sinking or gaining control of their opponent’s vessel.
Style and aesthetics also counted. Boats needed to be eye-catching, and students were tasked with creating an advertisement to win over the votes of their peers.
Team Rollo’s Raiders – students Jared Silbernagel, Lachlan Brumme, Savannah Saiz, and Max Trehus – knew they had to bring their A-game. The team equipped their boat with a rubber band slinger, seashells, and dolls dressed as sirens.
“We had two meetings per week for the entirety of the semester, as well as weekly tests for each prototype. In total, 60 hours were spent as a group working through each process as a team,” said Silbernagel.
Batten Down the Hatches – Day of the Competition
On December 2, it was time for the boats to set sail and prepare for the rough seas ahead.
Hundreds of people – students, faculty, staff, and community members – gathered in the Suzanne and Walter Scott, Jr. Bioengineering Building. Over the course of the event, 450 people watched the Twitch livestream.
Bechara stood poolside with a pink whistle around his neck. The first two teams approached the pool, lowering their vessels in the water. The whistle sounded, and the action began.
Round by round, a team was eliminated to the cheers of the crowd. As the bracket became narrower, the excitement in the room grew. After over an hour of action, only two teams remained: Rollo’s Raiders and Nautical Noodleheads. The teams stood opposite each other for the final round. A fog machine puffed a hazy cloud across the water, and Bechara blew his whistle.
Nautical Noodleheads aimed their cannon soaker at Rollo’s Raiders in an attempt to douse their electronics. The Raiders zipped around in an evasive maneuver, firing back with rubber bands. Bystanders were sprayed. Cheers echoed throughout the atrium. The energy was electric.
*TWEEEEET.*
Bechara blew his whistle. The crowd fell silent. The raiders successfully commandeered their opponent’s boat, pinning them against the wall. Victory for Rollo’s Raiders! Cheers once again permeated the air.
The Captain at the Helm
Bechara still gets a little misty-eyed recounting the events of Doll’d Up Nautical Knockdown.
“I was so proud. When it was the finals match, when everyone was cheering like it was a sports game, I almost cried. It felt like a bigger honor than any award I’ve ever gotten,” he said. “Just the effort that students put into it, the turnout from the crowd, the fact that people were so excited about it and came to support the students—all of it.”
