An intent lab student labors alone. Students examining a display version of the GE J79 Turbojet engine.Students reviewing their notes. Not yet a paperless world, and well before pocket computers, students had to check social media – painstakingly slowly – at the Computing Center. In 1972, mechanical and electrical engineering students built an automobile “particularly suited to an urban environment.” Though its report conceded that it had not forged any “earth-shaking technological breakthroughs,” the team did focus on curbing emissions, enhancing safety, decreasing size and cost, and improving drivability, handling, and styling. Loads of bushy mustaches, hair and sideburns in the chemical engineering lab – but no goggles? Maybe those broad-rimmed specs did the job. Dean Dave Ragone probes students’ minds. In the early 1970s it was thought that sitting on, rather than behind, desks made for more informal discussions – and turned conversationalists into better listeners. The Michigan Technic – established in 1888 – proclaimed itself the oldest student-run publication of its kind. Under financial strife for much of the last century, it staved off a 1960s administrative push to merge it out of existence. These early 1970s staffers may have joked through their troubles, but before the decade was out the Technic was gone. Others hung out (and hung laundry over furniture) and played.The honorary engineering society Pi Tau Sigma sponsored the first Egg Drop Competition.In that competition, students constructed containers, placed eggs in them and dropped the whole kit and caboodle from West Engineering’s fourth floor. Unexpectedly large crowds gathered to witness the splatter.
