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Engineering Open House

Engineering Open House logo over grassy field. Slogan: Engineering Elevated. Engineers' Week 2024, February 19-23.

Engineering Open House

The Gallogly College of Engineering invites you to join us for Engineering Open House on Wednesday, February 21, 2024! 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 has closed for 2024! We hope to see you in 2025. For questions, please email goengineering@ou.edu


 

A 112-Year Tradition

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

2024 Engineering Open House Highlight Reel
Open house student and staff volunteers
High School students waiting in line to test their glider.
High School students waiting for Open House

Details about Engineering Open House

Spring 2024

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

For all high school students. Some experiences are designed specifically for students with more or less engineering experience. This is outlined in the events breakdown.
 

How to Register

Educational partners can register their student teams, or students not competiting in a competition, online. The registration form will ask for student names, team breakdowns, shirt sizes and food allergies. If a student is not participating through their school, a parent or guardian will complete the registration form. 

Registration

Registration has closed for 2024! We hope to see you in 2025. For questions, please email goengineering@ou.edu

Cost

There is a $10 per student fee to participate which is due the day of the event. This fee helps support material costs, food, shirts, and more for Open House. This fee can be paid via cash, check or invoice to the school.



Schedule

View the schedule or download the PDF to view the schedule and map of the Engineering Quad.

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.

Please note that this schedule is tentative and still subject to change. 

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.

Student measuring their bridge as part of the model bridge competition
Open house participants building their roller coaster on a white board.
Student volunteers in the check in table for Open House
Group of High School students arriving to Devon Hall for Open house

Engineering Competitions + Criteria

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 two 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 one-bedroom model home that uses passive solar energy to heat up the house as much as possible and can hold the heat over a specified time.  The goal is to design a home that can increase to the highest temperature during the day simulation and lose the least amount of heat during the night simulation. 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

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. 

Contact us for more information

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

Open House News

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Everywhere you look engineering touches your daily life. The technology that powers your smartphone, the car you drive, the roads you travel on, the water you drink, the plane you fly in, and the technology of modern medicine are possible because of engineering advances.

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