BY JOAN KIM

In print | Published December 6, 2007

Brains and beauty — what more could one ask for? The first Mr. Engineer pageant, hosted by Swarthmore Women Engineers to raise money for the Expanding Your Horizons organization, not only tested Swat’s finest engineers on their wit and talent, but also on their quick calculating skills. Last Saturday night, Upper Tarble was full of fellow engineers and fans who witnessed the crowning of Seth Hara ’08 as Mr. Engineer with a dazzling caution tape sash.

The hosts, Kara Peterman ’09 and Kelsey Hatzell ’09, started the night off with an introduction of the competitors who cat-walked down the aisle to music such as “Macho Macho Man” and tried to win the hearts of the audience and the judges — Anne Krikorian ’11, Tane Remington ’10, Rosanne Breakenridge ’09, Anima Singh ’08, Kelly Siano ’07 and Jess Mandrick ’07.

The first contest was a test of a good eye and a steady hand. The competitors had to draw the perfect circle. Some engineers had a few tricks up their sleeves. Chris Caruso ’08 took off his belt to use it as a compass. Cyrus Stoller ’10 took out his key lanyard to draw his perfect circle.

The second round tested “speed, skill and knowledge.” With the use of every engineer’s best friend, the graphing calculator, each competitor had to quickly find the value of a convoluted mathematical expression. Dogus Cubuk ’10 was first to calculate an answer, although it was incorrect. He knew that speed was his best bet for gaining the most points. Only two, David Burgy ’10 and Sam Garcia ’08, calculated the correct answer, -0.030108. The answers from all the competitors ranged 11 orders of magnitude.

The last round before the first cuts were made was a test of strength. The engineers carried buckets of heavy coarse aggregate, a material that is added to cement to produce concrete, and strutted down the aisle. Each competitor tried to make his catwalk special by taking off layers of clothing or giving a calculator to a judge. Cubuk carried four buckets of coarse aggregate down the aisle and performed a set of lifts with two buckets in each hand, which was enough to make any audience member blush. Travis Rothbloom ’10 ended the event with a bang by dumping the entire bucket over his head and nonchalantly walking backstage.

The judges then had to choose five finalists and after calculating the scores to make sure they were both “precise and accurate,” finalists Hara, Cubuk, Caruso, Garcia and Jeff Santner ‘09 were announced. Some contestants expected others to make it to the finals. Santner said, "I was surprised Travis didn’t make the final five after his spectacular cat walk demonstration."

Part two of the competition began with impersonations of engineering faculty members. This event produced many laughs from knowing engineers in the audience and among the judges. Then, the finalists were challenged to design “the next SWE t-shirt.” While the finalists put their creative minds to work, SWE showed a video of “A Day in the Life of an Engineer.” Garcia’s shirt had the phrase “Can’t Resist Us” with a drawing of a circuit board and “For U and Me” on the back. Hara’s design had “Smart Boys think know Smart Girls are Sexy” which produced many smiles from the judges.

Then came the Q&A, which Cubuk and Santner said was their favorite part of the competition next to the faculty impersonations. Hara was first to go and was asked, “What does the inside of McCabe look like and how many floors does it have?” Hara said that the Q&A was the toughest part of the competition for him. “You never know what you’re going to get. I kind of lucked out.” Although, Hara, like every devoted engineer, no longer goes to McCabe library to do work, being a tour guide kept him familiar with the library and he answered correctly. The hosts asked Cubuk, “Explain the significance of the figures in the Mural Room.” Cubuk, though he knew the story behind the paintings, chose to share a funnier version of the story. He explained how an engineer in E6 realized how all the students in class “were bored like hell” and he thought that if he painted pictures on the wall, that the students would be entertained. The pictures back then were considered to be very funny. Caruso responded to the question, “If you were a tool, power or otherwise, which would you be, and why?” by choosing the grease gun. Since engineering at Swarthmore “sucks the life out of you” and prevents engineers from socially interacting with others, they lose their “slickness.” With the grease gun, Caruso explained that he could keep a supply of “slickness” with him at all times. Santner was asked the cliche, “How many engineers does it take it screw in a light bulb and why?” Santner responded that it took five or six to set up a meeting time, get together, wonder why the final group member was not there, call the last group member and then finally screw in the light bulb. Garcia was given the final question: “How would you pick up a date?” He humorously responded by saying that he would “grab her by the sides and pick her up.”

The prizes were announced. Runners up received prizes that included miniature slinkies. The winner of the entire competition received a caution tape sash, a framed picture of Smitty the machinist and an invitation to a date with all of SWE. After much anticipation, Garcia received first runner-up and Hara was “sashed” Mr. Engineer. “It’s really cool to actually be a part of the first annual Mr. Engineer contest and it’s a great opportunity for campus recognition for engineers and SWE. They are trying to get more active recently. It was a lot of fun and a big honor,” Hara said. “It was all just for fun, but we’re a close department and I think [the other candidates] deserve recognition. They are all Mr. Engineers in my eyes. I was just lucky to receive the title this year.”

Other competitors in the contest were: Jeff Kahn ’10 and Abhay Manandhar ’09.

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