‘Nerds’ Get Revenge at UCI With a Week of Zany Games

During most of the school year, UC Irvine’s engineering students tend to fade into the wallpaper of the library.

“They have so much to study, they can’t be playing like some other students,” explained Fred Sawyer, a former assistant dean of the School of Engineering. “Some call our engineering students ‘nerds.’ ”

But once a year at UCI, it is time for Revenge of the Nerds--better known as Engineering Week. Like a rite of passage, the student engineers laugh at themselves with a series of zany games and events. “Engineering Week lets the students show they aren’t all nerds and that they do have a sense of humor,” Sawyer said.

The Irvine campus launched its 1989 version Tuesday. And as in past years, the usually staid decor of UCI’s Engineering Plaza was transformed into something of a TV game-show set.

Students threw paper airplanes from the upper levels of the Engineering Building, cheering on their entries.

On the ground below, an engineering faculty member led another game, this one somewhat akin to “Simon Says.” The student contestants, however, had to figure out rapid multiplications, subtractions and square roots--while also jumping around and raising their hands and legs.

In an upstairs classroom, students divided into teams for a contest resembling the TV game show “Win, Lose or Draw.” Contestants raced to blackboards to draw clues to words and phrases. The competition produced groans, moans and cheers as student spectators watched combatting teams.

Sandy Harper, 37, an electrical engineering senior from Dana Point, looked anxious when she was told that her hidden phrase would be a term from astrophysics. But she grinned when she saw the phrase: black hole. She raced to the blackboard, drew a cavernous opening, and within seconds teammates yelled, “Black hole!”

Bruce Rigaud, 21, an electrical engineering student from Fountain Valley, paused only a second when he got his word: ion. Rigaud then quickly drew a nuclear ring, with a particle spewing out. “Ion! Ion!” shouted his teammates.

After the game, Rigaud and a teammate talked about why they enjoy Engineering Week.

“It’s a chance to show we’re not all stereotypes,” Rigaud said. “One of the things people say about us is that engineering students are ‘excessively diligent.’ Now that is just not accurate. I certainly don’t start all my homework on time.”

Lance Rushing, 20, an electrical engineering sophomore from Anaheim, said, “We spend long hours watching TV shows, like ‘Star Trek.’ ” He added, with a grin: “So we can’t be too far out of it, because we watch relevant TV shows.”

William A. Sirignano, dean of the School of Engineering, said that one of the things the annual celebration does is help lighten the image of student engineers. “My perception is that it helps make it look like it’s more fun,” Sirignano said. “And the contests during Engineering Week are fun.”

Not far from Sirignano’s office, clusters of engineering students were taking part in a bridge-building contest.

Faculty members gave stress and weight tests to the model bridges constructed of Popsicle sticks. The student builders, meanwhile, stood watching nervously.

“I’m pretty happy with our bridge,” said Denis Bilodeau, 20, a junior from Southgate. He said that he and his teammate, Mark Schroeder, 20, a junior from Sacramento, had spent about 3 weeks building the model. The small bridge survived a test of more than 400 pounds.

As Bilodeau watched, two non-engineering students walked across the Engineering Plaza and peered at the activity. One glanced at the model bridges, smiled and said: “Well, look at that. It must be Engineering Week again!”