This Thursday, May 23rd, hundreds of children, youth, alumni, professors, researchers and staff participated in several activities organised by the several departments.
“Being an engineer means you invent things to help other people”, says Inês Sinogas, 9 year-old girl. “Inventing things is something that everyone should do”, adds Gabriel Quaresma, 8 year-old boy. The two children are participating in an activity organised by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI), which involves “programming robots to avoid bumping into walls”.
“I like programming robots and doing technical things, so being an engineer is a possibility”, says Maria Inês, 10 year-old girl. Her mother, Inês Eusébio, Applied Mathematics and Computation Técnico alumna, says “it’s always good to be back here and feel this atmosphere. Técnico has changed a lot, not only in terms of facilities, but also in terms of activities and partnerships”. “Having lots of people from abroad speaking other languages is very positive because it fosters a growth mindset in students”, adds Inês Eusébio, who works at Everis, a company that is part of Técnico Partner Network.
“I felt at home”, says Inês Luís, who finished her Chemical Engineering course 14 years ago and she is currently working at Siemens. She came to Técnico with her husband, Engineering and Management alumnus, and their two sons who were fascinated by PSEM and Formula student cars.
“When I grow up I want to study computer science like my mother”, says Ana Silva, 8 year-old student, daughter of professor Inês Lynce.
Guilherme Dias, 15 years old, would like to study Aerospace Engineering. He came with his parents, Elizabete Toco and João Dias, both Técnico alumni. “This is a journey home”, say the alumni, visibly happy to see that their son is thinking about studying at Técnico.
João Marçal, 9 year-old student, participated in a “resistance game involving a LEGO seismic table”, organised by the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Georesources.
Drone programming, human-robot interaction and Formula Student and PSEM cars, were some of the activities that draw children’s attention.
Several activities were organised at the end of the day: discovering bacteria that glow in deep sea (Bioengineering Department), blind test of irradiated and non-irradiated strawberries (Department of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering), prototyping activities from recycled material (Department of Engineering and Management), tasting an ice cream made with liquid nitrogen (Department of Chemical Engineering), Origami and giant Sudoku activities (Department of Mathematics), seeing a cosmic ray spark chamber (Department of Physics).
A carillon concert by Ana Elias, Mining Engineering alumna, took place at 7 p.m. But, after all, why do so many engineers devote themselves to music? “Music is math, so we are able to better explore it”, answered Ana Elias.
A toast to celebrate Técnico’s 108th anniversary took place afterwards.
“I hope that you had fun returning to this school that marked your lives”, said the president of Técnico, professor Arlindo Oliveira. The event continued into the evening at Alameda campus, with the “Tunas” performance.
