Although UF's Engineers Week has been around for 60 years, this year it will make history as the first to be green-certified by UF's Office of Sustainability.
The 61st-annual Benton Engineering Council Engineers Week will be Feb. 15 to Feb. 27.
Open to all majors, Engineers Week is a free event organized by the Benton Engineering Council, the executive and legislative coordinating body for the College of Engineering.
E-week, as it's known, is going green by offsetting the event's carbon emissions, using "green" promotional items and composting food waste.
Smartphone-compatible bar codes have made the registration process more sustainable as well.
Nineteen-year-old environmental engineering sophomore James K. O'Connell, BEC's executive director of Engineers Week 2012, said every engineering society participates in E-week.
The societies compete for points to win the E-week Cup and a cash prize.
Points can be won by winning events, displays of spirit and participation.
"E-week gets better every year, and it's because we are all extremely passionate," O'Connell said.
So far, 14 events are planned for the 13-day event, ranging from a Mr. Engineer pageant to an Engineering Knowledge Bowl, which will feature a Jeopardy-style tournament with student and faculty teams, according to the event's website.
Other events include the Goals for Tomorrow Soccer Tournament, sponsored by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and an Engineering and Science Fair, where student societies work with local and on-campus research facilities to prepare interactive displays for K-12 students.
For more information, visit ufbec.org/eweek.
