UT Dallas > Erik Jonsson School of Engineering & Computer Science > News > Stories > Spring 2025 > Fired Up for Engineering and Computer Science: Student Organizations Take the Lead Through EWeek

Fired Up for Engineering and Computer Science: Student Organizations Take the Lead Through EWeek

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas celebrated National Engineers Week or EWeek from February 17 through 21 with a series of student-focused events capped off with the Engineering Challenge of Spice, a hot wing spice competition. Despite the unusually cold temperatures during the week, more than 700 students attended events hosted by the Jonsson School and individual student organizations, including a two-day career fair hosted at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center with free professional headshot photos.

“Over 700 students showed up with enthusiasm, engaged in activities and made EWeek a great success,” said Nikki Young, director of outreach and recruitment.

Design Your Future! Students display retro t-shirts with the national theme from National Engineers Week, custom-made for the Jonsson School.
Dr. Poras Balsara, vice dean of the Jonsson School and professor of electrical and computer engineering , stops by the Donuts with Jonsson School Leadership event. Balsara is one of several school leaders who met with students during the week.
Design Your Future! Students display retro t-shirts with the national theme from National Engineers Week, custom-made for the Jonsson School.
Students celebrate National Engineers Week with food and conversation.
Students also braved the cold weather to meet with employers and take professional portrait photos.
Jonsson School Student Ambassadors have spirit! From left, Nikki Young, mechanical engineering student Sowanate Amachree, mechanical engineering student Hailey Whitley, biomedical engineering student Mrigank Maharana, compuer engineering master’s student Benedict Arthur, biomedical engineering major Mayakla Johnson and Temoc show a mini-Whoosh.
One-two-three, UTD! Students from Berkner High School in Richardson Independent School District visit Engineering and Computer Science West.
Participants in the Engineering Challenge of Spice hot wing challenge level up to a sauce made with Pepper X, named the hottest spice in the world by the 2023 Guinness World Records.
Krishna Chilukuri delivers the heat. Chilikuri has helped plan and execute EWeek for two consecutive years, working with Jonsson School student organizations.

Highlighted events hosted by student organizations included workshops on Git version control system and AI neural networks hosted by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) UTD as well as a website coding workshop by WEHack and Surrounded, a networking event co-hosted by chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) from both UT Dallas and The University of Texas at Arlington.

On Friday, the Jonsson School hosted students from Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. The high school students toured Engineering and Computer Science West (ECSW), then enjoyed a presentation by student organization K5UTD, the amateur radio club at UT Dallas. Jonsson School Ambassadors provided a panel discussion during lunch, and the student visitors also enjoyed meeting Temoc, the University’s official mascot.

Computer science student Michael Hellman who also serves as Jonsson School Student Council president and president of ACM UTD, and computer engineering senior Krishna Chilukuri led the week’s activities along with Young; Xavier Jones, associate director of employer relations; Melissa Maxey, events manager, and Samiee Espinoza-Villejo, coordinator of special programs.