On Saturday, I accidentally wandered into some of the most organized chaos I've ever witnessed.
The Student Union was full of students and a lot of what looked like PVC pipe. Man-sized plastic structures were being assembled and broken down with urgency and no small amount of sweating.
It was three in the afternoon, and some of my friends were still sleeping. But none of the senior engineering majors.
I spotted my friend Cooper overseeing one of the many structures crowding the floor.
"Project Teamwork" was the compilation of months' worth of planning and work for seniors in the school of engineering, he explained. Mechanical, electrical, computer and aerospace majors all participated.
Teams of five or six engineers (with at least one from each concentration) were charged with the task of assembling a portable shelter in under five minutes.
That wasn't the only constraint. In fact, there was a list of them. The Project was more than an interdisciplinary construction session, it was a graded assignment.
The structure had to be under 30 pounds, tall enough to fit an average group member, made of recycled materials, and so on. Any goofups meant a reduction from the 15-point total and in the grade.
"The great thing about this project is that no one person could do it alone. It has to be a team effort," said lecturer Dr. Zirnheld, who helped organize the event.
And it was great to watch. As I realized what I was seeing, it dawned on me that by their senior year many of these students didn't even take class together anymore.
A mechanical engineer designed and assembled the frame, the electrical and computer guys designed the heating and ventilation, and the aerospace major helped out in any way he could. Some of these people were strangers, and they were coming together to put their specialties to use for practical purposes.
Everyone contributed, but not all on the day of the event.
Aerospace major Ray Beale said, "This isn't really an aerospace project, but I worked with building the frame and helped manage the group."
Jon Morabito, an electrical engineering major, backed him up.
"Today was mostly just the mechanical, structural day," he said.
Dr. Zirnheld explained that the premise was to design "temporary housing" for the needy.
These engineers were building portable shelters.
"These people could have been displaced by natural disasters, anything." Zirnheld said. She added that while the homeless were one target demographic, the main point was to design housing for those escaping or transitioning from any misfortunes that would put a person out of home. Marcus Covert, a "mech guy" just passing by, mentioned the fires in California.
To take it all in, I wandered to the middle of the floor. That's when the action picked up.
A group of five threw their materials down and started sorting through it all. They had five minutes to get it all done. Behind them, another plastic shelter was just coming down.
I felt a sharp jab in my back. I turned around and a swinging white pole missed my face by inches. Another group was somewhere in the middle of the process- someone was inside the plastic, demonstrating that the height was right. They didn't have time to watch out for bystanders like me, their grades were on the line.
As I watched, electrical major Guamani Abreu grabbed a support beam in the middle of his group's frame and helped his teammates lift the entire thing into the air.
Dr. Zirnheld was bustling around, making suggestions and giving instructions. Dr. Whalen, the electrical engineering professor who organized the whole thing, was just smiling as he watched his students work.
Minutes passed. Homes were built and deconstructed in moments.
Though the majority of Morabito's work had been done days before, designing the equipment inside the homes, he was pitching in by holding up one side of his group's frame. Minutes later, he all but sprinted from the building, late for something else engineers do on a Satuday. Beale stood by his group and helped organize. Covert was carrying an armload of pipes.
And then it was over. As quick as the assembly and disassembly of a home that could save someone's life, the event was packed up and trucked off.
April Santos, a junior nursing major who was there to witness it, wished more UB students could have been there.
"It would have been cooler If they did it during the week so everyone could see it," she said.
Covert's group got the max possible 15 points and walked away with an A for the day. He admitted that they designed their five-minute scramble around the time constraint, and that the speed wasn't even an issue.
He was impressed watching his peers at work.
"It's cool that the different groups came together to build something together. Plus there's free pizza."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
