Ever since she was young, Adithy Nagarajan has had a mind geared toward engineering.
Growing up in New Berlin, Wis., she loved visiting interactive science museums. She could always be found at the exhibits that let her build, fix and learn how things worked.
Her favorite toy? Legos.
Now, Nagarajan, a junior biomedical engineering major with a premed focus, works to share the fun of engineering and science with her fellow students and children in the Cleveland area. As president of Case Engineering Council, she led the effort to organize the annual Engineers’ Week, which wrapped up last night with a formal banquet featuring a keynote address from John Nottingham and John Spirk, co-presidents of Nottingham Spirk, who discussed vertical innovation.
Engineers’ Week celebrates the contributions engineers make to society through a variety of events that showcase the students, faculty and research members of the engineering community. The event at ϳԹ is just one of many hosted throughout the county with direction from the National Engineers Week Foundation.
Throughout E-Week (which did, in fact, last more than just seven days), the council engaged audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
It hosted pre-K to eighth grade students from the Cleveland area Feb. 14 for the Engineering Carnival to show them the fun of science with displays on how to make bouncy balls, slime and cotton ball catapults, among many other interactive experiences.
In addition, the council held the Engineering Showcase during the President’s Day Open House, to show prospective students what the many student organizations—such as the Undergraduate Materials Society, the Society of Women Engineers and the council—have to offer.
To get the students at ϳԹ involved, the council sought out the resources at think[ box ], where students had the opportunity to learn how the facility can help them make gear for the popular Humans vs. Zombies competitions—among many other benefits of the innovation center.
“I think outreach is one of the awesome ways to get this campus involved because we want to get kids excited about engineering and science,” Nagarajan, an aspiring pediatrician, said.
A member of Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable, the Society of Women Engineers, Nicole Steinmetz's lab, Phi Sigma Rho, the Greek Life judicial board and the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning Scholars program, Nagarajan has developed strong connections with other engineering students—relationships that helped her build a successful and diverse E-Week schedule.
“I’m working with a fantastic team of people,” she said. “They have fingers in every single pie that could be out there,” she said.
This team developed at an ideal time: When Nagarajan joined the group in her first year, there were only 15 students on the council. This year, membership doubles that number. In addition, the Undergraduate Student Government recently recognized the council, and it’s now expanded its scope to host multiple events per year instead of just focusing on Engineers’ Week.
“It was kind of left floundering [when a core group of members graduated], but that also left a lot of space to take it in whatever direction it could be taken,” she explained.
That made this year’s Engineers’ Week’s theme of “Creation, Collaboration and Change” even more pertinent.
When tasked with coming up with the theme, Nagarajan and her fellow students asked themselves one question: “If you are an engineer, what makes you different from everybody else in the world?”
“Change,” Nagarajan explained. “Engineers change things.”
At the helm of the organization, Nagarajan and her team of collaborators have allowed change—and growth from that change—to happen.
