The Gallogly College of Engineering invites you to join us for Engineering Open House on Wednesday, February 22, 2023! During this event, students will participate in various engineering design competitions and more. Click through the website to learn more, or email goengineering@ou.edu.
Registration Dates:
Registration for 2023 is now closed. We look forward to seeing you in 2024!
Since 1912, the students of the University of Oklahoma have had the pleasure of extending an invitation to area high school students to participate in the Engineering Open House, the oldest and most successful event on the University of Oklahoma campus. High school students from across the state come to Norman each year to sample what the OU Engineering programs have to offer. The competitions, activities, and events are also open for home school students to register for and participate in with a sponsor or chaperone present with them while on campus.
The engineering design competitions are the highlight of this event. With these engineering competitions, student teams design, prototype, and test a device in advance, bringing their best-performing product to campus to compete with teams from other schools. Each member of a winning team is awarded an OU engineering scholarship.
Outside the competitions, current OU Engineering students will lead hands-on activities for students to participate in.
The annual Engineering Open House allows tomorrow’s engineers and scientists to discover OU Engineering, and design their future, sooner.
View the schedule or download the PDF to view the schedule and map of the Engineering Quad. A schedule for 2024 will be released closer to the event.
What is this?
Program Info Sessions - Learn about OU Engineering and OU in general during our info sessions. Here you can see what OU Engineering has to offer, and hear from OU Admissions about applying to OU and financial aid.
Tours - Tour the Engineering Quad and get a sense for where OU Engineering students spend their time! This 30-minute guided tour will walk you through many of our popular study spaces, lab spaces and more.
Majors Fair - Come meet representatives from different engineering programs offered at OU and ask questions about their majors. This is a chance for students to learn what different majors do and how they can plug in.
Undergraduate Research Poster Session - Join undergraduate students and learn about their current research projects in OU Engineering.
Sponsor Hospitality Room - This space is reserved for our educational partners and parents as a way to relax, answer emails, or engage with our hosting student organization.
Please note that this schedule is tentative and still subject to change. We will include the date the updates were made to assist in the planning process for what your class can do while on campus.
Competitions - These are what student teams will bring to campus to test and compete for OU Engineering scholarships.
Activities - These are hands-on activities that students will take part in on-campus. Please note that these are limited in the number of participants at each session, but will be offered twice.
Join us for these hands-on activities during the 2023 Engineering Open House.
Model Bridge: In this activity, you’ve been hired by the city mayor to build a bridge that spans a large river. You will work as a team to design and build a model bridge that must be able to support the weight of cars, withstand high winds, and survive a magnitude 5 earthquake.
Coding Language: In this activity, you’ve been hired by an artificial intelligence agency to design and program a dance for a new robot. This activity will have you moving around the room and teach you the logic behind coding languages.
Egg Drop: In this activity, you’ve been hired by a space exploration company to design a new lunar launcher. You will work as a team to design and build a lunar lander prototype that protects your “astronaut” when it is dropped from a 2-story building.
DC Motor: In this activity, you will learn how to make your own DC motor from scratch!
Ping Pong Ball Launcher: In this activity, a catapult company has hired you to develop a new prototype launcher. You will work as a team to design and build a new launcher that can accurately launch a ping pong ball the furthest.
Roller Coasters: In this activity, you’ve been asked by a theme park to create a new roller coaster design. You will work in groups to design and build a roller coaster that will be exciting, fun, and safe. The more loops the better!
Our exciting competitions are the highlight of Open House. With these engineering competitions, student teams design, prototype, and test a device in advance, bringing their best-performing prototype to campus to compete with teams from other schools. Each member of a winning team is awarded an OU Engineering scholarship.
The objective of this competition is to design and construct a vehicle that will crash into a wall and will prevent four raw eggs from breaking when the vehicle crashes into the wall. The competition will be judged on the number of times the vehicle crashes without breaking the eggs, or the vehicle being registered unusable. The vehicles will run down ramps at multiple different lengths, with different angles as well. This competition is designed for students with less engineering experience.
The objective of this competition is to build a solar powered oven that can melt a cup size block of ice. The oven should be able to fit a cup inside the heating area. This competition is designed for students with less engineering experience.
The objective of the competition is to design, build, and fly a miniature glider to maximize flight performance. Teams will fly gliders from a second story terrace to a net board and fly through holes. A winner will be determined according to the judging criteria. This competition is designed for students with more engineering experience.
The objective of the competition is to design, construct, and demonstrate an assisted device. This device should serve as an extension of your arm and help you stack a set of cups. This competition is designed for students with more engineering experience.
This event is for all high-school-aged students. Your student does not need to be enrolled in an Oklahoma high school to participate. We encourage students from any state, as well as students that are home-schooled, to participate and learn more about Engineering at OU.
There are two forms required for students to participate.
Form C must be completed by the parent/guardian in order for the student to participate on campus. This includes acknowledgments of rules, talent releases, medical authorization, and more.
Form E will be completed by teachers or other educators who are bringing a group of students. This form must be completed in addition to Form C.
These forms must be completed and brought with the student to campus on the day of Open House. Students without completed forms will not be allowed to participate.
Yes, we ask you to register all your students at the same time.
You can email goengineering@ou.edu for any changes you need to make to your registration. We encourage you to alert us of these changes as soon as possible. All changes must be made by Monday, February 13, 2023.
You can enroll students in team competitions during registration.
At this time, each team can have up to four students in it.
Absolutely! While we do encourage teams to have at least two people in them, we allow students to participate individually if needed.
A team can participate in any number of competition so long as they are interested and able. If a team wins multiple competitions, they will only be awarded one scholarship.
Students can join or form other teams to participate in different competitions, but each student is restricted to only being on one team per challenge.
Materials for the competitions are not provided. Student teams are required to purchase their own materials and build prototypes before coming to campus to compete.
Yes, you are welcome to still participate. All winners will be contacted via email after the award ceremony.
If you have any questions, please call or email us at (405) 325-4490 or goengineering@ou.edu.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @EngineeringAtOU
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