Our ASME and IE programs at the University of Minnesota Duluth are growing every year.  There are always opportunities to do new things.  For example, we had the first annual Cardboard Boat Race.  It was a big hit with the students and staff, and we have received much encouragement to put on a similar event.  We are planning to do another design oriented competition during our Out Cold week.  It is our winter version of Homecoming week and is just as big.  We do not know exactly what it will be, but everyone seems to agree that it will have something to do with snow.

Another new idea that we are working on is an Engineering Competition Day.  This is a competition where all of the engineering departments from the campus gather and compete in several academic and recreational activities.  So far we have cooperation from two other departments.  This activity would likely be held in spring. One of our goals besides new events is to increase membership.  In order to do this we are having more meetings, since the free food really draws in big crowds.  At our meetings we are really pushing involvement, especially in design competitions.  We have already seen a lot of interest from fellow students in the Student Professional Development Conference.

Our final goal is to make the department a better place than when we entered it.  We are going to achieve this through increasing student involvement, new events, and cooperation with other student organizations.  With our time, dedication, and energy this is a very possible goal and its signs of plausibility have already shown.