Local Students Compete in Raytheon's Engineer Games

Students from nearly three dozen southland high schools, including Mira Costa, Redondo Union and Palos Verdes Peninsula, participated in Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems' celebration of National Engineers Week.

Raytheon in El Segundo hosted their 13th annual Engineer Games competition Wednesday, in which students were asked to solve a problem created and posed by Raytheon engineers.

This year, students were challenged to build a Stirling engine to turn a piston and a crank shaft without electricity, using the materials supplied (steel wool, a soda can, a paint can, a balloon and some wires). 

On Monday, Raytheon offered Math Moves U Day, in which students from 13 middle schools, including those in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Inglewood, Lynwood, Lomita, Los Angeles, Orange County, Somis, Torrance, Huntington Beach and Compton, participated.

“Raytheon’s Engineers Week activities are designed to fuel the next generation of engineer, helping keep middle and high school students interested in math and science and ensure that America maintains a competitive position in the global technology race,” said Noel Ellis, 2013 Engineers Week chair for Raytheon SAS and acting director of the Electronics Engineering Center.