Lauren Heiss, a sophomore in Industrial Engineering and head of the PESC Campus Relations Committee, said the competition's mission is to unite machine contest enthusiasts from universities across the country in a contest by students for students.

The inaugural Purdue National Chain Reaction Competition took place on March 2 at the France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center. The event replaced the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, which this year had changed its team member rules to allow no contestants older than 18. The daylong event included four teams and was live-streamed on the Purdue Engineering Student Council Facebook page.

"The Purdue National Chain Reaction Competition has been designed purely from the input of the chain reaction teams," explained Heiss. "We designed our event to represent the judging, rules, and logistics that the teams would see in their ideal competition. We have our own rules and handbook. We have no affiliation with the Rube Goldberg contest."

According to contest rules, teams had to use at least 30 steps in order to squeeze the toothpaste onto the toothbrush. The teams chose their preferred size and style of toothpaste and toothbrush.

Heiss got involved by participating in the PESC campus relations committee last year and serving as a judge during the 2018 Rube Goldberg event. "This role allowed me to understand the inefficiencies of that event and I was able to speak with the teams on what they disliked with the Rube Goldberg format," she said. "As I transitioned into the committee head position, I absolutely loved the fact that we are doing this event for the chain reaction teams. It has been an opportunity to create an event from scratch and innovate the entire competition to provide the best for the competing teams."

How did being an IE student help with this task? "I would compare this challenge to that as serving as a PESC committee head," explained Heiss. "Often I am faced with tasks that I may not have immediate experience or knowledge of, for example, the Purdue National Chain Reaction Competition. However, in the IE program so far, I have learned how to become knowledgeable in areas that I may have never experienced before. Part of the Purdue Industrial Engineering curriculum is taking a variety of classes that may not be necessarily related to one's future career, but rather provides an overarching technical background that can help with succeeding in projects."

Competition results:

• 1st Place: Purdue Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE), Chain Reaction Team
• 2nd Place: University of Illinois, Rube Goldberg Society
• 3rd Place: University of Texas at Austin, American Society of Engineers
• People’s Choice: Purdue Polytechnic, Association for Mechanical and Electrical Technologists

Read more: Purdue Engineering News, "Inaugural Purdue National Chain Reaction Competition"; and Purdue News, "New engineering council contest takes complicated to new heights", by Brian Huchel, Feb. 27, 2019)

Source: Lauren Heiss, pesccr@ecn.purdue.edu