By: Kevin Park
UW-Madison’s Engineering EXPO is one of the biggest ways our school gives back to the community. It allows UW-Madison students to express their creativity in building STEM projects to show the world. Every year, all the different engineering student orgs come together to build STEM projects and invite middle schoolers to get hands-on engineering earlier than they normally would. These are the types of things that inspired Isabelle Egizio, one of the co-executives of EXPO.
Egizio joined EXPO in her freshman year in 2021. Ever since then, she has slowly climbed the ranks from graphic design chair to co-executive chair. She has learned a lot from being a part of this club. “This role [has] really helped me with project management skills, and I used that to get my first co-op…I am going into patent law after graduation, and that is a role where you really are learning something new every day. Even now, [after] 3 years as exec, I still face problems that I’ve never dealt with before and have to figure out.” She took the time to sit down with us for an in-depth interview about EXPO.
EXPO preparation starts right after the previous one ends. “The planning really starts in the summer for the upcoming year,” she explains. “The executives put the team together, … get the org registered, … [and] prepare material for the career fair in the fall, because that’s a main source of our industry sponsorships.” This highlights the thought and dedication that actually go into planning such an important event.
The chairs meet at the beginning of the semester to discuss ideas for themes; this year’s theme is Super EXPO World. “[The retro gaming theme] was an idea our graphic design chair came up with. It had a lot of positive feedback from the group, especially one of our groups [that makes] their own exhibit for the event. They thought [the theme] could be interesting to implement in their design project,” Egizio notes. The graphic design team made a mockup for the event, and they knew it was going to be a hit.
After deciding on the theme, the real work starts. The various teams, including logistics, activities, exhibits, industry chair, and publicity, all start their preparation for the EXPO.
The logistic teams plan the venue, making sure there are enough tables for all the projects, confirming the projects have what they need and ensuring there is enough space for a demo, an outlet, etc.
The activities and exhibits teams make demonstrations for EXPO as other student orgs do. Previously, they have created Wiggle bots. “You take a plastic cup, and you put a motor in it and then put some hands and feet on it, and then it wiggles. They make their own activities like that for the kids to take home,” she explains. The exhibits team is making a pinball machine this year!
The industry chair is responsible for getting sponsorships, who are responsible for all the free T-shirts and bagels that the lovely volunteers get! These T-shirts are not free; they are paid for by the sponsorships, such as the ones from Findorff, Epic, Generac, and more.
The schools chairs are the ones who send out notices to schools that get to attend EXPO. They use a lottery system as there are simply too many interested than they can admit. “We usually get around 2,500 students who are interested in coming to EXPO and [we] have to limit it to 1,500 because of construction.”
The most complicated process is always the last month. Teams drop at the last minute, and other teams suddenly request different accommodations. Final logistical changes are needed to make sure that all the companies have all the documentation they need to come to campus to have an exhibit.
In the following years, Egizio is hopeful that EXPO will expand. “After construction is done on campus … and with the extra space that we’re going to have, [I’d like to see] the schools day attendance doubling with how much availability there is.” If any of this process sounds interesting to you, go to engineeringexpo.wisc.edu and apply to be an EXPO Badger. Make sure to check out community day on April 18th, 9 am. to 2 p.m at the engineering campus to discover all the wonderful work that Egizio and the rest of the EXPO team have done!