Powering the future at Engineering Open House

Engineering Open House allows University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students to translate complex engineering concepts into hands-on experiences for kids. This year’s event, held April 10-11, followed the theme “Forging the Future.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers Transportation and Development Institute graduate student organization, in collaboration with Illinois Center for Transportation, presented an interactive five-station exhibit focused on pavement energy harvesting in transportation systems—an emerging approach that captures and converts energy generated by traffic loads, vibrations, or temperature differences within roadways into usable electricity for infrastructure applications such as lighting, sensors, and smart transportation systems.

The exhibit earned two first-place awards: Most Engaging and the Sustainability Award.

The five stations created a connected, story-driven experience, allowing visitors to move from concept to hands-on application.

The Power Story station introduced visitors to the idea of capturing energy from roads and vehicles and showed how ICT is testing the technology at its Illinois Accelerated Pavement Tester. The Gear Play station allowed participants to interact with mechanical components such as springs, rack-and-pinion systems and shafts to understand how motion is converted into energy.

At Harvest Kart, visitors drove a virtual vehicle over energy-harvesting plates, collecting energy while learning how roadway systems can capture power from moving vehicles. The Harvester Hub featured a small-scale prototype that generated energy when visitors jumped on it. That energy then powered the Future City, a model city that lights up in response to the energy generated.

“Engineering Open House was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the sustainability work we do at ICT,” said Murryam Hafeez, ASCE T&DI GSO president and an ICT doctoral student. “Our team ensured the energy harvesting project was presented in an engaging and accessible way for all visitors, particularly younger ones. Seeing children’s faces light up as they played the game and jumped on the harvester was truly rewarding. Their curiosity about how everything worked made the experience even more fulfilling.”