Students to Build Catapults from Junk Piles during NJIT Day
WHAT: New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) annual fall festival, known as NJIT Day, will feature student engineering contests, an electronic game exhibition, a battle of the bands, a barbecue, men’s and women’s soccer games, athletic games, a kid’s zone, a chili cook-off, an art exhibit on Newark’s former Pabst Brewery, a dinner show with mentalist Robert Channing and other events.
FEATURED EVENT: Junkpile Wars: Student teams will compete in a catapult-building contest. The night before the contest, five teams will be given piles of junk – wood planks, wheels, rods, rope, bolts, baskets, etc. For the next 18 hours, the teams will use their engineering savvy to transform these materials into old-fashioned catapults. Modeled after the TV show Junkyard Wars, the contest is called Junkpile Wars. The teams will fire bean bags from the catapults at a target placed on the campus green. A panel of NJIT deans will select the best-built and most accurate-shooting catapult.
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005, from 9:45 a.m. – 6 p.m. The catapult contest takes place between 2-3 p.m. (on the campus green).
WHO: Jack Gentul, dean of students, is the contact person for NJIT Day. Reporters and photographers can call him on his cell phone: (201) 341-1286.
WHERE: NJIT’s Campus Center, on the main quad, near the intersection of Warren and Summit streets.
HIGHLIGHTS:
9:45 a.m.: NJIT President Robert Altenkirch welcomes alumni and guests
10 a.m.: Art Show opens
Electronic Game Expo opens
Kid's Zone opens
10:30 a.m.: Civil engineering students assemble an award-winning steel bridge 11:30 a.m.: Women's Soccer Game vs. Caldwell College
Food/beverage venues open
Young Alumni Club Chili Cookoff
12 noon: Highlander Games Procession
12:45 p.m.: Highlander Games begin
Junkpile Wars competition begins
2:00 p.m.: Academic Presentation – “Life without Boundaries: The Technology of Location Awareness,” by NJIT Professor Quentin Jones, the College of Computing Sciences.
3:00 pm: Men's Soccer Game vs. Oneonta State University - Winners of Junkpile Wars, Highlander Games and Electronic Game competitions to be announced at halftime.
5:00 p.m.: Dinner show with mentalist Robert Channing