UoA NZ Engineering Science

Wednesday, 14th August 2024 at 10:00am

ENGINEERING SCIENCE PROBLEM SOLVING:

A group of GBHS students put their thinking caps on over the weekend, as part of the annual University of Auckland's New Zealand Engineering Science Competition.

Emelia Queenin (Yr 11), Alexis Heckler (Yr 12), Milly Grieve (Yr 12) and Adi Shirlal (Yr 12) spent Saturday preparing a report - submitting their assessment with 1 minute to spare!

On the day of the competition (Saturday 10 August) registered teams receive an open-ended science-related question. Using the powers of mathematics/physics, logical thinking, computer programming and writing skills, teams had to work together to formulate an appropriate answer.

The question "How many airships would it take to replace the Cook Strait Ferries?" challenged teams to think about as many factors as possible At a basic level, it might take 10min to find an answer, however, when taking into account seasonal weather, airport space, flight velocities, turnaround times, population growth, GDP projections, and maintenance schedules (just to name a 'few' variables) it soon became an 8-hour project!

With some great prizes up for grabs, the team are now waiting in anticipation of the judges' results. (The Pullan prize for first place comes with $1000 for each team member (and $500 for their supervising teacher). Two Runner-up teams: with each team member getting $500 (plus $500 for the supervising teacher).

The annual New Zealand Engineering Science competition is a problem-solving event for teams of senior secondary students organised by the University of Auckland's Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering.