Engineering Expo 2022 Returns to In-Person with Healthcare Theme

By Holly Hinson

The Engineering Exposition is making a welcome return to campus this year on Saturday, March 5, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sponsored by the Speed School Student Council (SSSC), E-Expo aims to expose local K-12 students to STEM fields, to showcase student competitions and research, and to promote the University of Louisville, the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, and the Speed School Student Council to the local community. E-Expo includes networking opportunities, corporate representation, departmental showcases, STEM demonstrations, and competitions for K-12 students. Unfortunately, the last two years of the event have been virtual due to Coronavirus and allowed no in-person participation by students and the community of Speed School partners and friends.

The 2022 Engineering Exposition, “The Power of YOU in Engineering” focuses on the healthcare aspect of engineering with keynote speaker and alum Morgan Tallio, Technology Distribution and Logistics Lead at Johnson & Johnson. In her role, Morgan is accountable for enabling and maintaining technology that supports pharmaceutical distribution for Johnson & Johnson in North America, including vaccines and clinical trials. She graduated from University of Louisville with a bachelor of science and a masters of engineering in Industrial Engineering in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Maddie Back, Operations Vice—President for SSSC, is coordinating this year’s exposition.

“We are very excited to be back in person because we are able to do a lot more than we were able to do online – we can do decorations and we are bringing back alumni to talk to other students and prospective students,” said Back. “I also believe it gives the opportunity for kids from different schools to meet other people and it’s a lot better to see the competitions in person and see it run. The popular Rube Goldberg competition and the Balsa Wood competition are two of these annual events.

One of the purposes of the exposition is to expose students to the world of engineering and perhaps inspire them to pursue the field as they grow older. “The value for the kids is to each year see new ways engineering is involved in the world,” said Back. “For the elementary school kids, it gets them thinking about STEM and realizing, “Hey, you can build projects,’ and slowly introduce them that way,” she said. “For the middle and high school students we can show the passions and drive of Speed School students, and with the companies see if you go into this engineering field, you can probably end up with this kind of job,” she said.

In addition, the E-Expo can show kids what a difference engineers can make in the world, said Back. In a previous year, alum Luke Malone brought in an executive from his employer, Tech Shot, who demonstrated showed a difference he was making doing science experiments on the international space station.

Morgan Tallio

In this year’s event, Back said keynote speaker Morgan Tallio will help demonstrate how engineers are making a real difference in today’s world of healthcare. “Engineers are helping people live longer and healthier lives, and helping them be more comfortable in their longer lives. With the pandemic, we saw we need engineers designing vaccines and health protocols and better PPE to keep people safer,” she said. “With what we’ve been going through the last two years, this year’s theme is important.”