National Engineering Week at Concordia is all about increasing the awareness of our future profession in and around the engineering community at the university. Even though this faculty makes up a good portion of the attendance here, most of the projects, research and labs are kept behind closed doors where few people see. While we can't exactly have just anybody venture down to the basements and explore the facilities, we can bring some of that cool stuff to the surface to show off our work to peers and the general public.

This year focused on lunch seminars and speaker panels from prominent industry representatives who shared their knowledge and experiences with large groups of students. Also on the agenda were many social events geared towards getting those pesky introverted engineers to talk to each other. The week ended with the always-successful Bridge Building Competition, which saw CEGEP Chicoutimi, win their fifth straight competition, much to the disappointment of the other competitors.

Certainly the highlight of the week was the erection of one of the tallest freestanding structures made out of simple K'nex. The scale model of the Eiffel Tower sits in our Engineering & Computer Science building's atrium and measures a staggering 42 feet 11 inches tall. It was built in less than three days with more than fifty thousand pieces by a handful of dedicated volunteers. James Goggans, the designer of the project, spent the better part of the last year planning this build and his work paid off. The media attention alone was incredible, not to mention the recognition from the faculty towards the undergraduate student association.

This year, National Engineering Week was most definitely a memorable one and will live on in the Concordia history books.