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Hands-on science at Eureka! 

ENCS joins A&S at event

Tens of thousands of future scientists descended on Montreal’s sun-drenched Old Port over the weekend to participate in the fourth annual Eureka! science festival. Always keen to give kids of all ages the chance to experience the wonders of science first hand, Concordia was once again a proud participant in this lively event co-produced by the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal and the Montreal Science Centre.

This year, Concordia’s Faculties of Arts and Science and Engineering and Computer Science both partook in the event. Arts & Science connected with the crowd by asking questions like what do figure skaters, origami and space satellites have in common? Coordinated by Miriam Posner, Technical Supervisor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the experiments kept kids focused on having scientific fun.

“This event is just wonderful,” said Posner with a broad smile. “Seeing the expression on a kid’s face when something scientific really clicks is what Eureka! is all about.”

The Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science took up Eureka duties on the Sunday and inspired a host of future building and civil engineers with a hands-on demonstration on the science of bridges. Five different engineering students helped animate activities over the event. In addition, professors Khaled Galal, and Radu Zmeureanu along with Professor Emeritus Hugh McQueen, stopped by.

Chris Maloney, coordinator of the 2010 edition of Concordia’s Troitsky Bridge Building Competition, did an excellent job of managing the event, which marked ENCS’s first time at Eureka! He used the popular K’Nex brand of building blocks to demonstrate the principles of bridge building to hundreds of young participants, who showcased their creativity with their own designs.

“I’m already thinking about how we can improve on this for next year,” said Maloney, whose team of fellow students from the Department of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering kept the day running smoothly with their dedication and enthusiasm.