Nearly 300 teams from West Virginia and Pennsylvania will once again toss pumpkins off the roof of West Virginia University’s Engineering Sciences Building during the 26th Annual Pumpkin Drop. The competition, hosted by the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25.

The goal of the competition is to design an enclosure or apparatus to protect a pumpkin from damage when dropped from the roof of the building. The surviving pumpkins that land closest to a target on the ground, as well as the pumpkin-carrying device having the best design, will be among the winning entries. The team from Summersville Middle School, whose pumpkin landed three feet and five inches away from the target, won last year’s event. A record-number 41 teams had their pumpkins survive the drop in 2012.

The initial idea for the event started with a group of mechanical engineering students who were active in West Virginia University’s chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which sponsors the competition.

“They were looking to create a spinoff from the egg drop assignment and competition that is held as part of their freshman engineering design course,” said American Society of Mechanical Engineers adviser John Kuhlman, who is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “They were trying to come up with a more difficult problem to solve and thought that it sounded like fun.”

In addition to being fun, Kuhlman said the event teaches student about the importance of engineering in our everyday lives.

“We hope that the students involved in the competition learn that engineers work to solve problems, and there often is testing and iteration involved in coming up with a working design, or a ‘best’ design,” Kuhlman said.

Pumpkins must be at least 10 inches in diameter, and the pumpkin and its protective structure weight is limited to 60 pounds. Associate Professor Emeritus Wally Venable will again serve as judge for this year’s event.

Refreshments and commemorative Pumpkin Drop T-shirts will be for sale, with proceeds benefiting Ronald McDonald House in Morgantown. Kuhlman estimates that the event has raised somewhere between $15,000 to $25,000 over the years for the charity.

-WVU-

mcd/10/15/13

CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu

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