Photo by Rose Taylor | The Wright State Guardian
Hosted on Tuesday, Sept. 3, the CECS Involvement Fair consisted of tabling opportunities for engineering and computer science clubs. Here are some of the many clubs who attended the event.
Association for Computer Machinery
The Association for Computer Machinery focuses on anything within the computing realm, though they have three main topics for this year: a yearly programming contest, a homelab workshop and a group created to attend the National Cyber League.
The programming contest is open to undergraduate students, though graduate students are encouraged to join as well. Regionals have proven to be a worthy challenge for Wright State University students, but there are various reports of people enjoying the event!
Kayleigh Duncan, the faculty advisor for the Association for Computer Machinery and an instructor for computer science, talked about the programming contest.
“Regionals are usually a very humbling experience– which, nothing against it, everybody has a good time, and the whole way home last time they blabbered on about ‘how are we supposed to solve this problem,’” Duncan said.
The club hopes to have this event sometime in October or November of this year.
A student who is a part of the club is also hosting his own homelab workshop.
“In essence, the best way to learn is by doing, so he has set up his own server cluster, his own networking, routing, firewalls and everything, and he would really love to help students build their own. So he is creating a series to build up that skillset, so that students could walk away over winter break and put these things together and see what they can create,” Duncan said.
Finally, the club has started attending the National Cyber League competition. There are individual and team games, as well as a “gymnasium” where students will offer to teach and mentor each other on subjects they may not be too aware of in preparation for this game.
“ It’s a great way for [students] to build each other up,” Duncan said.
Students interested should check out their Engage!
Biomedical Engineering Society
The Biomedical Engineering Society hopes to offer a large variety of events and opportunities during the school year, especially since the club had gone into decline after the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Vera Peters is the president of the club and went down a complicated yet simple path to decide on her major of biomedical engineering.
“I started undecided, and it was the first semester and I was like ‘well, I should pick something.’ I just went on Wright State’s undergrad programs and opened any tab for all the programs that sparked an interest… I picked BME as the final one because I [felt] like it’s gonna challenge me enough where I don’t get bored, but it will keep me interested,” Peters explained.
“My grandma had a total knee replacement, so my background with living with her during her recovery was interesting to me. Eventually as I got through the program, I started to gain more interest in different medical devices and implants, and now I want to actually pursue medicine.”
The Biomedical Engineering Society has many upcoming events. Their next event, which will be a presentation by Dayton VA Biomedical Engineers, will give students the opportunity to learn more about the current BME field while making connections for their future careers.
The club will also see a visit from Dr. Emily Davidson, a professor of biochemistry and bioengineering. Peters is very excited for her upcoming webinar, which should be held with the club on Nov. 2.
“…she is an associate professor at Princeton University, and she has done a ton of amazing research that’s very appealing to mechanical engineers, and she does a lot of 3D printing as well. When I was reading up [on] some of the papers she has and I was like, ‘this is the woman in STEM. Like, this is the girl,’” Peters exclaimed.
The best way to stay updated on the variety of events the Biomedical Engineering Society has planned is by joining their Engage page.
Collegiate eSports Club
eSports Club is a club meant for gamers of all skill levels and interests. Jacob Litten, an IT and cybersecurity major, is currently the president of the club, and was happy to talk about what the club has to offer.
“Our main competitive games are Overwatch, Valorant, Call of Duty, League of Legends, [Rainbow Six Siege], [Counter-Strike 2] and a couple more. [Those] are our main competitive games, that’s when we go out and face other schools,” Litten explained.
Beyond competitive games, the club room offers spaces to play more relaxed games on the computer and on Nintendo Switch. There are lots of club members who are more relaxed and looking to make friends to play games with!
Students interested can become a member on Engage, where there is also information for the group’s Discord. The eSports room is open from 12-6p.m. every weekday; they are located in the Student Union Lower Atrium.
National Society for Black Engineers
The National Society for Black Engineers is dedicated to career development, but also has the occasional social event. Current President Divine Eziolise explained the biggest yearly event the club has.
“We have a [yearly national] convention we go to each year. Usually it’s somewhere in the Midwest like Chicago, so it’s like a fun little thing, but it’s also good for students who put themselves out there. The conference basically has a whole lot of companies in the Midwest who are looking for people to hire, so it’s a massive job fair pretty much. There’s tons of companies [we] usually can’t get through all of them in one day,” Eziolise said.
For those interested in this convention or attending other meetings hosted by the club, join their Engage!
Tau Beta Pi
Rachel Ballentine, a mechanical engineering major and member of Tau Beta Pi, explained the primary purpose of the club.
“Tau Beta Pi is the engineering honors society, it is one of the oldest honors societies in the U.S. and was formed in the 1800s,” Ballentine said.
Tau Beta Pi hopes to cultivate integrity and excellence in engineering, as well as liberal culture and distinguished honor amongst members. While the society is limited to students in engineering or computer science, it is an excellent organization for the top students of each year.
Other organizations
Almost every club for CECS that a student could think of attended the CECS Involvement Fair. While some may not have had people actively tabling, all offered some sort of handout for attendees to take as they walked by.
There were also clubs that simply did not have as much information as others. However, these are clubs that students should still consider joining as they have a variety of opportunities!
Beyond the previously mentioned clubs, the Society of Hispanic Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Institute of Industrial and System Engineers and Engineers Without Borders were all there. The best way to learn more about these clubs is through Engage.
The study abroad program was also there, boasting two WSU Ambassador Programs for engineering students to go to Taiwan or Germany. Students interested in these opportunities– or any study abroad programs offered by WSU– can email studyabroad@wright.edu or visit the UCIE at 334 Student Union.
There are lots of opportunities available for students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Join a club today to learn more about your passions and any opportunities you may have missed!
