My son who will start Rose-Hulman next Fall was one of the 25 selected finalist for the VEXplorer Contest. The contest requirements were to build an interesting robot using the VEXplorer
system and post a video on YouTube demonstrating the end result.  The top prize is a $5k college scholarship.

In
Erik's case, he used SolidWorks for the initial design, and a black
tabby cat named Cyrus for the testing phase! His accompanying music
includes "White and Nerdy". Like father (aka the Northstar Nerd)… like son!

• VEXplorer System | Contest Announcement
  and
• Erik's YouTube Video: Lift-O-Bot

You should also be able to view other entries via the related videos link!

A little over one year ago I started a series of blog posts, the engineering college search from a parent's perspective. My son, Erik, gave me permission to blog … and now our journey is over. It is only appropriate that Erik should have the last word. Thus, the following words are Erik's.

Post Update – Christmas 2011: see the final post from this series … Erik is about to graduate from college and has a great full time engineering job offer in hand!
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Erik Hoeg's College Decision and Competitions

Well I have finally picked the college I will be attending next year, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana (about an hour from Indianapolis). The main competition for this choice was Valparaiso University which is located in Valparaiso, Indiana (an hour from Chicago). Here is the list of schools to which I applied:
.
o Michigan Tech
o Olin School of Engineering
o Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
o Valparaiso University
o Worcester Polytechnic Institute
.
I originally decided to stay away from the big engineering schools such as Purdue when I discovered that I preferred smaller schools where the professors did most of the teaching (at larger schools TAs’ do a lot of teaching).  I was accepted to all of my schools except Olin, so that left me with four choices.  In brief, I did not pick Michigan Tech because when I visited the school I just couldn’t get over the fact that there was very little in the way of prospering cities in the U.P. of Michigan.  I didn’t need big cities, but all of the towns were kind of depressed and left over from industry that had once taken place there.  I also ruled out Worcester because the school was very urban with many streets running through the campus, and the robotics degree just didn’t really seem to be quite what I was looking for. I decided I wanted to stick to a more traditional engineering degree.  That left Valpo (Valparaiso) and Rose-Hulman. It was a hard choice for me, as I really liked both campuses and felt both schools really wanted me. Each college had good programs.  In the end I chose Rose-Hulman over Valparaiso for several reasons:

• The number of engineering classes are more numerous at Rose-Hulman
  • Given the entire college is devoted to engineering, although it is a smaller school than Valpo, there are more engineering opportunties.
• I felt that the caliber of engineering courses might be higher at Rose-Hulman
• There is more equipment available for engineering at Rose-Hulman
• Each senior on average has 4 job offers at Rose-Hulman
• Rose-Hulman is a division III school which gives me the opportunity to compete in sports.

And of course my parents would probably add as a joke … someone comes in to change your sheets and clean your dorm room once per week at Rose-Hulman. In the end I chose Rose-Hulman because I felt that it was an excellent school and it has continuously rated number 1 for undergraduate engineering degrees by US News (schools which don't have PhD programs). I am really looking forward to attending starting next Fall.

Another thing that happened to me recently was I was chosen as 1 of 25 semi-finalists for the Vexplorer Contest sponsored by Revell and Robot magazine. One of the judges for the competition is Grant Imahara from the show Mythbusters.  Anyway, I submitted an idea for their new product: a robot that picks itself up, turns on an axis, and then sets itself it back down and drives off in the new direction.  As of now they are sending me a free kit and I have $100.00 to spend via VexLabs to help build my robot.  I have until June 1st to make my robot, create a video and post it to YouTube, and then the final winners will be selected with the first place prize being a $5,000 dollar college scholarship.

My Dad will link my YouTube Video here when I complete my robot.   

Last night we put down my son’s enrollment deposit to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (#1 ranking from US News). Erik is excited about his choice (read my entire series … the college search from a parent’s perspective). I’m also thrilled with his choice, but as a father I must consider this issue: What’s the future of engineering in America?

For an answer, I’m going to pull upon my alma matter, Dartmouth.  Dean Helble notes that American Media has taken a sensationalistic approach which makes it seem like "the sky is falling". In fact, this year’s graduating class at Rose-Hulman had on average 5 job offers per newly minted engineer! If one keeps current, there is plenty of engineering work in the U.S.A.

Here is a quote and podcast from Dean Helble which further expands upon this subject:

• Podcast: Making Engineering Relevant
  .
• Quote: (read entire article)
  "Unfortunately, students considering a technology-based education these days are confronted by stories of the growing numbers of engineers in countries such as India and China, stories suggesting that many U.S.-based engineering jobs will be outsourced. The implicit message is that America doesn’t need to develop its own technical talent. This is wrong, and it is a dangerous message to send to those now making decisions about colleges, their majors and their careers." …
  "It is true that India and China produce more engineers than the United States, but per capita production of engineers in those countries lags far behind that of the United States, and those countries, with their needs for basic infrastructure, have ample work to keep their local engineers busy for decades, The question is not whether we are graduating as many engineers as India or China, the question is whether we are producing the technical talent we need to create new industries and address pressing problems in energy, health care, the environment, sustainable manufacturing, security and communications."

Finally, some of Dean Helble’s article is based upon the report written by the former president of the University of Michigan, James Duderstadt: Engineering for a Changing World.

I think Erik made a great choice, and has an excellant future!