Spring Break
Students drop eggs for cash
Nami Yasue
Daily Staff Writer
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The first annual Egg Deceleration event was held in the lobby of the Engineering building on Wednesday, and the crowd with more than 200 students cerebrated the event.
There were a total of 145 contestants with 133 San Jose State University students and 12 contestants from the packaging industry. About 75 percent of the student contestants were from the engineering department, and about half of students from the packaging engineering program competed in the event.
Also, types of packaging such as plastic bags, bottles and medical containers were on display on a table from packaging companies that sponsored the event.
The contestants were required to submit their packages before Monday, and some packaging students input the data of the mass and volume of packages into a computer.
About 180 raw grade-AA large eggs were prepared, and the judges from the packaging industry placed an egg inside each of the packages.
Herbert Schueneman, a lecturer in the packaging department, said only packages of eggs that survived the impact of a drop were scored based on a scale that was created by the packaging program, and the computer system determined the winners based on the mass, volume and dropping time.
Schueneman added the smaller and lighter packages deserved higher scores.
Ping Hsu, the associate dean of the College of Engineering, dropped the first package that was created by a packaging student.
Pal Khangaldy, a laboratory manager from West Pack Inc., dropped packages from the second floor of the Engineering building, which is six meters above the lobby floor.
Then, judges from the packaging industry, such as Cisco Systems, determined the successes based on the rule that judges must be able to place the egg in the container or remove it without damage in a maximum time of 30 seconds.
When a package failed to protect an egg, the package was immediately thrown into the trash.
Individual contestants came up with unique designs for their packages. Many contestants used boxes with sponges or papers inside, some contestants used plastic water bottles, and one even used an empty Kellogg's cereal box.
Schueneman said the results were unpredictable from the look of a package because some contestants created their packages based on the mathematical reasoning.
After 145 packages were dropped, Schueneman announced the winners. The team of Rich O'Balle, a junior mechanical engineering major, and Matt Beckman, a junior aerospace engineering major, won fi rst prize and received $1,000 in cash. Herman Yang, a junior electrical engineering major, won second prize and received $750, and Steve Pai, a junior general engineering major, won third prize and received $500.
Schueneman said all the prizes were donated by packaging companies. Pacific Southwest Container donated $1,000, $750 was donated by Charles Tutor, a former instructor in the packaging program, and $500 was donated by Agilent Technologies.
O'Balle, who was on the team that won first place, was in his class when he heard about the win from his partner, Beckman, over the phone.
O'Balle and Beckman spent about six hours creating their package, which is made by of coneshaped paper, two straws to hold an egg inside and electoral tape to hold the bottom.
O'Balle and Beckman said they haven't decide how they are going to use the $1,000.
Pat Lewis, a packaging engineer from Cisco Systems and SJSU alumnus from the packaging department, said the packaging industry is the seventh largest employer in the world.
Lewis said he decided to major in packaging because packaging is a diverse field with multiple disciplines, he said.
Lewis, who wanted to be a park ranger but didn't wanted carry a gun and yell at people, said he thought he could do something good for the environment by creating ecological packages.
"It is a different means to help the planet," Lewis said. There were four people from the Cisco Systems and many others from the packaging industry to support the event, he said.
"They want to support the program
because they believe in the
program," Lewis said.
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